J^^^f^^^^i^d^^ y^ X4, //7^ 



LECTURES 



on 



REVIVALS OF RELIGION; 



BY 



WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D.D. 



PASTOR OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN ALBANY. 



WITH AN INTRODTTCTORV ESSAY 



♦• BY LEONARD WOODS, D.D, 



ALSO 



AN APPENDIX, 

• s ^ ; - 

Consisting of Letters from the IRsve'rend Doctors Alexander, Way 

LAND, Dana, Miller, Hyde, Hawes, M'Dowell, Porter, Payson, 

Proudfit, Neill, Milledoler, Davis, Lord, Humphrey, Day, 

Green, WaddeiSJ^ Grifhn, and Rev. C. P. McIlvaine. 



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PUBLISHED BY 

Webster & Skinners, O. Steele, and W. C. Little, Albany; J. P. Have.n 

AND J. Leavitt, New-York; Towar & Hogan, Philadelphia; 

AND Crocker & Brewster, Boston. 



Packard & Van Benthuysen, Printersy Albany. 
1832.. 



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Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred 
and thirty-two, by Joseph Alexander, in the office of the Clerk of the Southern 
District of New-Yoric. 



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R 




CONTENTS. 



I'ago. 

Introductory Essay, by the Rev. Leonard Woods, D. D ix 

LECTURE L 

NATURE OF A REVIVAL. 
ISAIAH XLV. a 
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the sides pour down right- 
eousness : let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and 
let righteousness spring up together, 1 

LECTURE IL 

DEFENCE OF REVIVALS. 

ACTS n. la 

Others mocking, said, these men are full of new wine, 25 

LECTURE in. 

OBSTACLES TO REVIVALS. 

1 CORINTHIANS LX. 12» 

— Lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ,. 61 

LECTURE IV. 

DIVINE AGENCY IN REVIVALS. 
HABAKKUK HI. 2. 

O Lord, revive thy work, 89 

LECTURE V. 

GENERAL MEANS OF PRODUCING AND PROMOTING REVIVALS. 

PHILIPPIANS I, 27. 

— Striving together for the faith of the gospel, 115 

LECTURE VI. 

TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 
ACTS III. 19. 

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, 153 



maL^.i 



11 CONTENTS. 

LECTURE VII. ^''^'' 

TREATMENT DUE TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 
2 CORINTHIANS XIII. 5. 

Prove your own selves,. 186 

LECTURE VIII. 

EVILS TO B3E AVOIDED IN CONNECTION WITH REVIVALS. 
ROMANS XIV. 16. 

Let not then your good be evil spoken of, 215 

LECTURE IX. 

RESULTS OF REVIVALS. 
REVELATION V. 13. 
Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto hiin that sitteth upon 
the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever, 259 



appendix;. 

LETTER I. 

From the Reverend Archibald Alexander, D. D*^. I 

LETTER II. 

From the Reverend Francis Wayland, D. D 9 

LETTER III. 
From the Reverend Daniel Dana, D. D. ...» 16 

LETTER IV. 
From the Reverend Samuel Miller, D. D.. 22 

LETTER V. 
From the Reverend Alvan Hyde, D. D 45 

LETTER VI. 
From the Reverend Joel Hawes, D. D , , . . . 56 

LETTER VII. 
From the Reverend John M'Dowell, D. D 61 

LETTER VIII. 
From the Reverend Noah Porter, D. D 68 

LETTER IX. 

From the late Reverend Edward Payson, D. D 78 



,.-4 , 



-iir I lift ' > I <^i-nftififnir«j"iiimT'( 






CONTENTS. Ill 

Page. 

LETTER X. 
From the Reverend Alexander Proudfit, D. D. 80 

LETTER XL 
From the Reverend Charles P. Mcllvaine, 87 

LETTER XIL 
From the Reverend William Neill, D. D 99 

LETTER XIIL 
From the Reverend Philip Milledoler, D. D 103 

LETTER XIV. 
From the Reverend Henry Davis, D. D 103 

LETTER XV. 

From the Reverend Nathan Lord, D. D Ill 

LETTER XVL 
From the Reverend Heman Humphrey, D. D 115 

LETTER XVIL 
From the Reverend Jeremiah Day, D. D. 121 

LETTER XVIIL 

From the Reverend Ashbel Green, D. D , , . . 124 

LETTER XIX, 

From the Reverend Moses Waddel, D. D 146 

LETTER XX. 
From the Reverend Edward D. Griffin, D. D , 151 



r 



iv 



PREFACE. 



The following Lectures were delivered during the pre- 
ceding autumn and winter, to the congregation with 
which the author is connected, in the ordinary course of 
his public ministrations. The grand object at which he 
has aimed has been to vindicate and advance the cause of 
genuine revivals of religion ; and in doing this, he has en- 
deavored to distinguish between a genuine revival and 
a spurious excitement ; to defend revivals against the ca- 
vils of their opposers ; to show the causes which operate 
to prevent or retard them; to exhibit the agency of God, 
and the instrumentality of men, by which they are pro- 
duced and sustained ; to guide the inquiring sinner and 
estabhsh the young convert ; to guard against the abuses 
to which revivals are liable, and to anticipate the glorious 
results to which they must lead. In the hope that the 
Lectures may prove a seasonable offering to the Ameri- 
can church, at an interesting and critical period, the au- 
thor has concluded to send them forth through the press ; 
and in doing this it is a pleasure to him that he is comply- 
ing with a request from the session and trustees of the 
church of which he is pastor, as well as acting in accord- 
ance with the wishes of several respected and beloved 



Vi PREFACE. 

brethren in the ministry with whom he is more immedi- 
ately associated. 

In the Appendix the reader will find a series of letters 
on the same subject, from a number of the most distin- 
guished clergymen of our country, and from six different 
religious denominations. The object in requesting these 
letters has been twofold — First, to obtain authentic histo- 
ry of our revivals, in which unhappily we have hitherto 
been greatly deficient ; and, Second, to ascertain the man- 
ner in which revivals have been conducted by men whose 
wisdom, experience, and standing in the church must at 
least entitle their opinion to great consideration. It was 
originally the author's intention to have republished the 
well known letters of Doctor Beecher and Mr. Nettleton 
written several years ago, in which the same general 
views which this volume inculcates, are defended with 
great zeal and ability. But upon examination he finds 
they are so much identified with the occasion in which 
they originated, that he thinks it best to omit them. He 
allows himself to hope that whatever the decision of the 
public may be in respect to the Lectures, they will find in 
the Letters which follow, much authentic and important 
information ; and he doubts not that the testimony on this 
momentous subject of such a representation from our 
American church, will not only be gratefully received, 
but considerately and earnestly pondered. If the volume 
should, by the blessing of God, be instrumental, even in 
a humble degree, of promoting such revivals as those for 
which Edwards, and Dwight, and Nettleton, and a host 



PREFACE. VU 

of others both among the living and the dead, have count- 
ed it an honor to labor, the best wish of the author of the 
Lectures, and no doubt of the writers of the Letters also, 
will be answered. 
Albany, May 1, 1832. 



B«r — 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, 



BY THE 



REV. LEONARD WOODS, D. D. 

Professor of Christian Theology in the Theological Seminary, Andover, Massachusetts 



If a man wishes to ascertain whether he has a 
title to an estate, which has been left by a rich rela- 
tive, he searches the laws of the land respecting 
inheritance. He examines the interpretations which 
have been given of those laws in the writings of the 
ablest jurists, and in the decisions of courts of jus- 
tice. He diligently inquires into all the circum- 
stances of the case, and into all the conditions with 
which it is necesssary for him to comply in order 
to secure the possession of the estate. In this 
business he proceeds with great zeal, and without 
any delay. The interest which he has in the sub- 
ject urges him on to complete his examination sea- 
sonably, so that, if his title is clear, he may have 
the pleasure of anticipating the property, and in 
due time of taking possession of it; and that he 
may guard against all mistake, and against the neg- 
lect of any measure which he ought to adopt. But 
what is the largest estate on earth compared with 



X INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

the heavenly inheritance ? And what is the care 
and dihgence which we ought to exercise in order 
to secure any earthly good, compared with that 
which we ought to exercise to make sure our title 
to the blessedness of heaven ? 

But how are we to determine whether we have a 
title to that blessedness ? 

^ Clearly we must do this by ascertaining, what is 
the character of those who are entitled to it, and 
whether that character belongs to us. This is the 
business of self-examination; a business of vast 
moment to all Christians, though often neglected, 
and, when not entirely neglected, often performed 
without due regard to the proper test of character. 
No language is adequate to describe the evils which 
result, either from the omission of self-inquiry, or 
from an attempt to perform the duty, while the pro- 
per rule of judgment is overlooked. 

This general subject has often been well explained 
and forcibly inculcated by Christian preachers, and 
Christian writers ; and it is more than once sug- 
gested in the following excellent Lectures. Indeed, 
the author has probably said as much on the subject, 
as he could consistently with the end he had in 
view, and with the variety of interesting topics 
which he found it necessary to discuss. — As he has 
requested me to make a few remarks introduc- 
tory to the Lectures, and as I have no reason to 
believe that they can be raised in the public esteem 
by any recommendation from me; I shall direct 
my remarks to a point of great practical impor- 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XI 

tance, and shall endeavour to show as clearly as 
possible, that in the whole business of examining our- 
selves, and judging of religious character, we should 
make the word of God our rule. The rule is equally 
proper in judging of ourselves, and of others. 

A little consideration will make it manifest, that 
the word of God is the only safe rule. Neither the 
opinions of the world, nor the character of Chris- 
tians, nor the particular experience of those around 
us, nor any views which we might be led to enter- 
tain of the nature of religion by our own reason- 
ing, or by our own feelings, can be a safe standard. 
The prevailing opinions of the world, so far from 
being certainly right, are very likely to be wrong ; 
because the world lieth in darkness. Even Chris- 
tians are all very imperfect ; and their faults may be 
more visible than their excellencies ; so that mea- 
suring ourselves by them would evidently expose us 
to mistakes. As to the religious experience of 
those around us, — it may be true and saving, or it 
may be false and delusive. At best it will doubtless 
be a mixed experience. And unless we have some 
higher rule of judgment, how shall we be able to 
separate the true from the false, the wheat from the 
chaff ? If we judge of ourselves by what we know 
of the experience of others, we shall be in danger 
of setting a high value upon that which is worth- 
less, and a low value upon that which constitutes 
the very essence of religion. Who is able to form 
a safe and perfect standard of judgment in regard 
to religious character, but that Being whose know- 



rf& 



XU INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

ledge is infinite, and who is therefore Uable to no 
mistake ? Who but God perfectly knows the na- 
ture of the kingdom of heaven, and the necessary 
qualifications of those who shall be admitted into 
it ? If any man should undertake by his own wis- 
dom, without divine teaching, to make out a de- 
scription of the qualifications which the heirs of 
heaven must have, he would undoubtedly fall into 
various errors, and his errors would misguide all 
those who looked to him as a standard. A rule of 
judgment, on which we can safely rely, must be 
formed by God himself, or by those who enjoy his 
infallible guidance. If we faithfully attend to a rule, 
formed in this way, we may expect that the conclu- 
sions which we adopt, will be according to truth, 
and will stand forever. 

Another reason, and one of great moment, for 
making the word of God our rule of judgment, is, 
that this will he the rule of judgment at the last day, 
Christ himself has expressly informed us, that the 
word which he spake shall judge us at the last day. 
In matters of a civil nature, we search for those 
laws and precedents which are to be the rule of 
judgment. In special cases we search again and 
again, and ask the counsel of those who possess su- 
perior skill ; so that we may determine as exactly as 
possible, what will be the decision of the court of jus- 
tice, and may govern ourselves accordingly. Such 
a mode of proceeding is important in the highest 
degree, with respect to our spiritual concerns. Our 
state for eternity is to be decided at the judgment 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. Xlll 

day. God has graciously informed us, that his 
word, contained in the scriptures, will be the rule 
of final decision. To determine then how our 
character will appear at the last day, it is only ne- 
cessary that we should try ourselves faithfully by 
the word of God. If we try ourselves by any rule 
less elevated and less strict than this, it may lead us 
to cherish a false hope of future happiness ; and 
that hope, though it may afford us pleasure now, 
will perish forever, when God takes away the soul. 
And who would wish for a hope built on delusion ? 
The painfulness of the final disappointment must 
be far more than an overbalance for all the pleasure 
which can now be derived from such a delusion. 
And besides this, the indulgence of a delusive hope 
is, of all things, the most likely to prevent us from 
obtaining that hope which is sure and steadfast. 

This is a subject of most serious interest to all 
the heirs of immortality. When in our seasons of 
reflection that weighty question arises in our minds, 
whether we have a title to the kingdom of heaven ; it 
is indescribably important, that we should repair 
directly to the word of God, and judge of our cha- 
racter and prospects by that sure standard. Many 
of the books which have been written by pious and 
learned men on the nature and evidences of reli- 
gion, exhibit the truth with clearness and fidelity, 
and may be consulted with great profit. But they 
should never be substituted for the word of God. 
Nor should any works of human origin be so used, 
as to diminish in our view the importance of scrip- 




XIV INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

ture, or in any degree to withdraw our attention 
from it. Religious books should be calculated to 
raise our esteem for the Bible, and to aid us in un- 
derstanding its instructions, and in applying them 
to our own case. If they have a different influ- 
ence, they are not only useless, but hurtful. 

The general view which I have now taken of the 
propriety and importance of making the word of 
God our rule of judgment respecting character, may 
be sufficient. But as I apprehend that this is a 
subject on which inadequate and erroneous appre- 
hensions are often entertained, I shall endeavour to 
make the rule itself as plain and obvious as possible. 
For this purpose, I shall select a few passages of 
scripture, where the nature and evidences of true 
religion are brought into view professedly, and with 
more than ordinary prominence and fulness ; and 
then, instead of referring to the Bible generally, I 
shall, for the present, refer definitely to these pro- 
minent passages, as our rule ; wishing, however, to 
have it well understood, that the other texts which 
relate to the same subject, are to be treated in the 
same manner. 

I begin with the Decalogue, Exodus xx. 3 — 17. 
These ten precepts, written on tables of stone by 
the finger of God, show what are those affections 
and actions which God requires of us. They are 
contained summarily, as Christ teaches us, in these 
two commands: 

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy hearty 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XV 

all thy strength ; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as 

thyself. 

This is a direct and intelligible account of the 
sum of human duty; — a description of that holy 
character, which we ought always to possess and 
to exhibit. 

The next passage I shall quote, points out our 
particular duty, as sinners. 

Mark i. 15. Jesus preached, repent ye^ and he- 
live the Gospel. 

I next refer to a place, (Matt. v. 3 — 9,) where 
Christ undertakes, with a striking particularity, to 
delineate the peculiar traits of character which be- 
long to his disciples. It is evidently his object to 
correct false notions of practical godliness, and to 
exhibit in one connected and delightful view, the 
qualifications of those who shall enjoy the happi- 
ness of his kingdom. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit. — Blessed are they 
that mourn. — Blessed are the meek. — Blessed are they 
who hunger and thirst after righteousness. — Blessed 
are the merciful. — Blessed are the pure in heart. — 
Blessed are the peacemakers. — Blessed are they that 
are persecuted for righteousness sake. 

Is. vi. 2. To this man will I look^ even to him that 
is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at 
my word. 

Matt. V. 44. / say unto you, love your enemies ; 
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate 
you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and 
'persecute you. 



w 



I 



XVI INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

In Matt. vi. 5 — 15, Christ gives his disciples the 
most particular directions as to the spirit and man- 
ner of their devotions. 

When thou prayest^ thou shalt not he as the hypo- 
crites are ; for they love to pray standing in the syna- 
gogues^ and in the corners of the streets^ that they may 

he seen of men, But thou, when thou pray est, enter 

into thy closet ; and when thou hast shut thy door, pray 
to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who 
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye 
pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do; for 
they think they shall he heard for their much speaking. 

Be not ye, therefore, like unto them. After this 

manner therefore pray ye : Our Father which art in 
heaven, hallowed he thy name : thy kingdom come : thy 
will he done, in earth as it is in heaven : give us this 
day our daily hread ; and forgive us our dehts as we 
forgive our debtors : and lead us not into temptation, 
hut deliver us from evil : for thine is the kingdom, and 

the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. For if 

ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father 
will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their 
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your tres- 
passes. 

1 Pet. ii. 7. Unto you who helieve, Christ is pre- 
cious. 

John xiv. 13, 21. If ye love me, keep my com- 
mandments. — He that hath my commandments and 
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. 

Phil. ii. 5. Let this mind he in you, which was also 
in Christ Jesus. 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XVll 

Luke ix. 23. And Jesus said to them all, If any 
man will come after me, let him deny himself and take 
up his cross daily, and follow me, 

John xvi. 8. And when the Holy Spirit is come, 
he will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and 
of judgment. 

Gal. V. 22, 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 
peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- 
ness, temperance. 

As the passages here selected are very intelligi- 
ble, and as they are among the principal ones re- 
lating to Christian character ; they will be sufficient 
for my present purpose. So far as these leading 
texts are concerned, we see at once what is our rule 
of judgment, and what inquiries we are to make in 
order to determine whether we are Christians. Do 
we conform in any measure to the holy precepts 
which were written on tables of stone by the finger 
of God ? Do we love the Lord our God with all our 
heart, and our neighbours as ourselves? Have we 
repented of sin, and turned from it ? Do we believe 
in Christ, as he is set forth in the gospel ? Is he 
precious to us ? Is the same mind in us which was 
in him ? Do we deny ourselves daily ? Have we 
been convinced of sin by the Holy Spirit? Have 
we the fruit of the Spirit, described by the Apostle ; 
and the marks of discipleship, described by our 
Saviour? Are we poor in Spirit? Do we mourn 
with the mourning of penitents ? Are we meek and 
merciful ? Do we hunger and thirst after righteous- 
ness ? Are we peacemakers ? Are we pure in heart? 
3* 



XVlll INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

Do our prayers answer to the pattern which Christ 
gave ? Do we forgive and love our enemies, and do 
them good, and pray for them? Do we show our 
love to Christ by keeping his commandments ? 

These questions bring into view the principal 
evidences of piety, the principal rule by which we 
are to try ourselves. When the judgment day 
comes, we shall stand or fall as we are conformed 
or not to this rule. 

The practice of making the word of God our 
rule, as here recommended, would produce the 
most desirable and important effects. 

It would have an injluence highly favorable to the 
character of Christians^ through their whole course. 
If they judge themselves by any other rule, the va- 
rious evils of their hearts, and the faults which 
cleave to their characters, may be, and probably 
will be in a great measure concealed from their 
view. But the word of God sheds a clear and 
penetrating light on their whole character, even on 
the most secret springs of action, helps them to 
discover what is wrong, and how much remains to 
be done in the work of sanctification. If men stop 
where they are when first renewed, the great object 
of divine grace in their renewal, either as to their 
character, their usefulness, or their enjoyment, can- 
not be attained. Now if they constantly look into 
the Bible as their directory, and there learn what they 
are, and what they ought to be; and if they labor to 
conform in all respects to that perfect standard, they 
will constantly grow in grace, and be constantly 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XIX 

rising towards the stature of perfect men in Christ. 
The faults which are found in Christians, and 
which occasion so much injury to their cause, are 
undoubtedly owing in a great measure to their sub- 
stituting something else in the place of holy writ, 
as the rule of their practical judgment. While 
they satisfy themselves with conforming to a false 
or defective standard, they will be satisfied with a 
false or defective piety. It is a fact well known, 
and often recognized, that those Christians who 
have paid the most scrupulous attention to the 
word of God as the standard of character, have at- 
tained to the highest degree of moral excellence. 
They have been the most humble, and penitent; 
because they have seen the most clearly how small 
the measure of their holiness, and how many their 
failings and sins. The pride of their hearts has 
been continually mortified, by looking at them- 
selves, in the light of God's holy word. They 
have had the strongest faith in Christ; because 
they have had the deepest conviction of their own 
sinfulness, and misery, and helplessness, and the 
clearest views of his glory and fulness. They have 
been the most sincere and fervent in prayer; be- 
cause by making the scriptures their rule, they 
have become the most deeply sensible of their po- 
verty, and of the abundance of blessings they need; 
the most sensible too that no one, but God, can be- 
stow these blessings ; and particularly that they 
must trust in him alone to supply what is wanting 
in their Christian character. Thus they have been 



XX INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

brought to feel a strong attachment to the throne 
of grace, and to be importunate and persevering in 
prayer. Such Christians have been the most obe- 
dient to the divine commands, the most active in 
doing good, and the most patient and submissive 
under trials ; because the word of God has most 
effectually taught them, that such obedience, and 
activity, and submission is a reasonable service, 
and is to be regarded as the very substance of 
practical religion, and the grand proof of regene- 
ration. 

The diligent and faithful use of the word of God, 
as the rule of judgment, would have an influence pe- 
culiarly important in regard to those who have just be- 
gun to attend to the subject of religion. 

Take the case of a sudden conversion. One who 
has long lived in thoughtless security, and has per- 
haps been an opposer of rehgion, is to-day awak- 
ened from his slumbers ; and in a very short time 
he thinks himself a Christian. He is surprised and 
delighted at the sudden change which has taken place 
in his feelings ; is full of gratitude and rejoices in 
hope. Now adhering conscientiously to the word 
of God as our rule, how are we to proceed in re-^ 
gard to such a case ? 

I reply : so far as the person referred to, gives 
evidence of right views and feelings, though for 
only a few hours or minutes, we are to regard him 
in a favorable light, and to indulge a hope that the 
sovereign grace of God has visited his soul. And 
there may perhaps be as much evidence of this, as 



/ 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXI 

the shortness of the time will permit. But may we 
unhesitatingly and confidently pronounce him to be 
converted ? Suppose we do this ; and then suppose, 
what too often takes place, that in a few days, or a 
few months, he loses his religious impressions, re- 
turns to his sins, and is in all essential points as he 
was before, except perhaps that his proud, selfish 
heart shows itself in different ways. What do we 
think now ? Do we still pronounce him a convert ? 
No. We begin to doubt. The favorable opinion 
we had of his character, we fear was a mistake ; 
and we regret that we expressed so unqualified 
an opinion in his favor, especially as our opinion 
may have led him to think well of himself, and 
helped to confirm his delusion. Let us then go 
back, and see what the mistake was. It is evident 
that our great mistake lay in our neglecting to make 
the word of God our rule. A faithful adherence 
to this, was all that was necessary. Shall we then 
go over the subject again, with a strict regard to the 
rule ? The person shows a sudden alteration in 
his mind, and says, he repents, and believes. What 
shall we think of such a case ? And how shall we 
treat it ? I reply : If he truly repents, and believes, 
he is a Christian, renewed, pardoned, and entitled 
to heaven. But his saying that he does this, can be 
no certain proof that he really does it ; because he 
may say it insincerely. Nor is it a certain proof 
that he truly repents and believes, that he really 
thinks he repents and believes ; because the heart is 
deceitful above all things, even more deceitful than 



XXll INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

the deceitful tongue — and by such a heart he may 
be led to judge erroneously respecting himself. It 
is clear then, that if we would exercise a sober 
mind, and keep on scripture ground, we must not 
undertake to judge any farther than evidence will 
warrant ; that is, we must avoid a hasty judgment. 
And a judgment which rests on a person's expres- 
sions or appearance for a short time, must in ordi- 
nary cases, be hasty ; because ordinarily, a short 
time is not sufficient to exhibit such evidence, as may 
safely be made the ground of judgment. The feel- 
ings, and words, and actions of a professed convert 
may be owing to other causes than the renewing of 
the Holy Spirit. We must wait then, patiently wait, 
to see whether he brings forth fruit meet for repen- 
tance. Look at the passages of scripture, which 
exhibit the prominent traits of Christian character, 
and you will see that it is utterly impossible to judge 
in an hour, or a day, whether those traits belong to 
a particular person. How can he show that he re- 
pents and believes, before he has time to show the 
operations and fruits of repentance and faith ? — or 
that he has the law of God within his heart, before 
he shows by his actions that he is obedient ? In 
order to make it manifest that he is humble, con- 
trite, poor in spirit, meek, patient, forgiving, diligent 
in doing good, and fervent in prayer ; he must have 
time, opportunities, occasions, trials. From the 
nature of the case, the evidence of piety must be 
gradual. A small degree may be exhibited the first 
day, or hour of a man's religious life ; and we may 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXlll 

have a small degree of hope, — a hope proportion- 
ate to the degree of evidence. But it is contrary 
to scripture, contrary to reason and sober judgment, 
and a sign of rashness, for us to make up our minds 
confidently respecting a person's conversion, or to 
speak confidently of it to others, when he has had 
opportunity to give but slight and dubious evidence 
of conversion. We must therefore check the spi- 
rit of impatience and haste, must guard against all 
excitements inconsistent with enlightened reason, 
and must suspend our opinion, till the person makes 
it appear by his life, whether he has the marks of a 
Christian. Nothing can be more obvious than that 
men will ordinarily be liable to mistake, if they 
take upon them to speak decisively as to the con- 
version of others, or to judge decisively of their 
own, on the ground of what takes place in a short 
time. A man is suddenly waked up to the impor- 
tance of religion. Seeing himself to be a sinner, 
under condemnation, he is distressed and agitated. 
But on hearing the messages of divine mercy, and 
the offers of free pardon, he is filled with inexpressi- 
ble rapture, resolves to be a Christian, cries glory to 
God, and exults in the hope of heaven. Now many 
Christians at the present day look upon such appear- 
ances as good evidence of a saving change, and with- 
out any qualification, speak of the person who ex- 
hibits them, as converted. But is this according to 
truth? Is it the dictate of Christian wisdom? What 
real evidence is there, that the person described, has 
been savingly converted ? Does the evidence consist 



XXIV INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

in the sudden waking up of the mind to the things of 
rehgion ? in a consciousness of guilt ? in fear, and 
distress, and agitation ? We learn from the scrip- 
tures, that these things afford no satisfactory evi- 
dence of conversion. Is evidence found in the 
rapturous joy which is excited by the offer of par- 
don, and by the hope of happiness in heaven ? The 
slightest acquaintance with the nature of man teach- 
es, and the word of God teaches more fully, that 
such joy is altogether equivocal, as it has in ten 
thousand instances sprung from a selfish and delu- 
ded heart, and may spring from the same source in 
the case before us. There is nothing of more du- 
bious import than the feeling and utterance of such 
rapturous joy. 

But is not joy among the fruits of the Spirit ? 
Yes ; true joy is so. But we learn from the Bible, 
that there is a joy which is false, growing out of a 
deceived heart. We have to determine then whe- 
ther the joy excited in the individual before us, is 
true or false ; and we must do this by attending to 
the circumstances of the case, and to the conse- 
quences which follow. We must endeavour to as- 
certain whether he has any spiritual knowledge of 
God, any conviction of ill-desert and vileness, any 
cordial hatred of sin, any faith in the Saviour ; 
whether he is humble and of a contrite spirit; 
whether he pants after holiness, denies himself, for- 
gives and loves his enemies, is like Christ, and has 
respect to all the divine precepts. These, accord- 
ing to the Bible, are the main points. Any one of 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXV 

these is far more important, and ought to be far 
more insisted upon, as an evidence of regeneration, 
than the highest transports of joy. 

Is the fact that the individual referred to expresses 
a hope respecting himself, any decisive evidence of 
his conversion? We cannot admit this, because 
the scriptures teach us that there is a false hope, as 
well as a true. Instead, therefore, of pronouncing 
confidently that the person is converted, because he 
has a hope, w^e have to ascertain whether the hope 
is a true Christian hope. And to do this, we must 
wait for the evidence of all the dispositions of the 
believer, as described in the places above cited. 
And this again will require time, and care, and pa- 
tient observation, and a frequent suspension of our 
judgment. And how can any one, unless he is of 
an impatient, rash spirit, object to this mode of pro- 
ceeding, considering that it is of no kind of impor- 
tance in any respect, that we should form a judg- 
ment immediately, and considering especially, that 
a judgment formed on mistaken grounds, whether 
in regard to ourselves or others, will stand for no- 
thing at the last day, and will tend more than al- 
most any other cause, to injure and ruin the soul. 

I have said that time is necessary. The very 
nature of the rule shows this to be so. For how 
can the rule be applied to any one as a test of cha- 
racter, except as his character is made visible by 
his conduct? If we were omniscient, we could look 
directly into the heart, see all the secret springs of 
action, and pass sentence upon the character at 

4* 



'n 



XXVI INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

once, without any danger of mistake. But as we 
can know men only by their fruits, we must wait 
for the fruits to appear. When we see blossoms 
upon a tree, we may hope for fruit, and may hope 
that the fruit will be good, and thus prove the tree 
to be good. But before we can actually judge as 
to the goodness of the tree, we must see and exa- 
mine the fruit ; and to do this, we must take time. 
Without time it is impossible to determine, whether 
a sinner truly repents, and has a character which 
answers to the requisitions of God's holy word. 

As to the individual whose case I have intro- 
duced, I have one more inquiry. Is it a satisfac- 
tory evidence of his conversion, that he resolves 
to he a Christian^ and to act henceforth on the 
Lord's side? I answer: If his resolution springs 
from right motives, and is sincere and pious, it is 
one sign of conversion ; though not one which is 
most frequently insisted upon in the word of God. 
But how shall we know that his resolution is sin- 
cere and pious ? How can he give evidence of this, 
but by acting out the Christian temper, and by 
showing that his character agrees in some good 
measure, with the infallible rule above presented 
from the word of God ? Suppose what is often a 
fact, that he who says he is resolved to be a Chris- 
tian, manifests no conviction of the evil of sin, or 
the desperate wickedness of his own heart, no hu- 
mility, or self-abhorrence, or contriteness of spirit, 
no readiness to make confession, no sense of his 
own weakness and insufficiency, and no cordial 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXVll 

trust in the grace of Christ — Is he to be regarded 
as a Christian^ because he says he resolves to be 
one? Or suppose his resolution to-day appears in 
all respects as we should wish; serious, humble, 
pious, the fruit of a renewed heart; but after a 
while his excitement passes away, and he shows 
that he has the same heart as before — Is his reso- 
lution to be a Christian, still to be viewed as an 
evidence of conversion? No. Such a resolution 
may be made a thousand times, and with apparent 
seriousness too, but without any right feelings of 
heart, or any holy fruits in the life. So that the 
great question is not, whether a man in any way 
resolves to be a Christian, but how he resolves. 
What is the state of mind from which his resolution 
springs, and what influence has it on his life. To 
determine whether his resolution is any evidence 
of piety, we must bring him and his resolution to 
the same test. Has he the traits of character 
which are so plainly delineated in the places which 
I have selected ? To answer this question properly 
is not the business of a moment. And if any one 
does answer it in a moment, he may soon have rea- 
son to reverse his answer. And though he should 
see no reason to reverse it, it may be reversed at 
the judgment day. 

Finally : Let us keep in mind, that great care and 
caution are necessary, if we would form a judg- 
ment respecting the conversion of sinners, accord- 
ing to the rule of God's word. But this care and 
caution should be joined with great affection and 



f'f;r 



XXVlll INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

tenderness, and with a disposition to encourage all 
that is right, and to hope well of those who begin 
to attend to the one thing needful. So far as they 
appear to love the truth, and to be of a penitent, 
humble, docile spirit, we should think favorably of 
them, and heartily thank God for his goodness, — 
still remembering that, as we cannot search the 
heart, we must know them by their fruits, and must 
wait to see what the fruits are. This mode of form- 
ing a judgment, whether respecting ourselves or 
others, is attended with obvious advantages, with- 
out any real disadvantages. If a man is truly con- 
verted, it will be no injury to him to suspend his 
judgment awhile as to his own state, and to wait 
till he has opportunity to see what his habitual 
feelings and actions are. It will do him no hurt, 
but probably much good, for his friends to wait 
awhile to see whether he lives like a Christian. It 
will do no hurt to a revival of religion, but will be 
an evidence that the revival is the work of God, to 
have it universally understood and deeply felt, that 
the heart is deceitful above all things, and that no 
man can expect to come to a right decision re- 
specting his own character, or the character of 
others, without some opportunity for the applica- 
tion of the rule of judgment, and the trial of cha- 
racter. This principle, well fixed in the mind, 
would promote watchfulness, self-inquiry, prayer, 
and a diligent endeavour to know and do God's 
will, among those who are setting out in a religious 
course. It would make them jealous over one an- 



INTRODTTCTORY ESSAY. XXlX 

Other, and especially over themselves, with a godly- 
jealousy. It would fix in their minds the important 
sentiment, that religion is no sudden start, no ex- 
citement of animal feeling, no fire quickly kindled 
and quickly extinguished ; but a sanctified disposi- 
tion of heart, an active, holy, durable principle, in- 
fluencing the life. And the natural consequence of 
this sentiment would be, that they would indulge and 
express no more confidence that they have religion, 
than they would be warranted to do by its fruits, 
appearing in their conduct. Making the word of 
God the only standard of religion, and of religious 
character, would be the direct way to detect hy- 
pocrisy, to prevent delusion, to discourage false, 
enthusiastic affections, and to preserve order and 
purity in the church. And it would have the pecu- 
liar effect to render Christians sensible of their in- 
sufficiency for the work to which they are called, 
and of their constant need of divine aid, and would 
produce in them a sincere reliance on the grace of 
God. If we set up a religion which varies essen- 
tially from the scripture rule, — a religion which 
consists in the stirring of the passions, or the ef- 
forts of mere self-love, and which comes within 
the reach of the unrenewed heart; we can indeed 
easily exercise such a religion, of ourselves. To this 
we are perfectly adequate, without any special di- 
vine help. For who needs special divine help to 
enable him to deceive himself, and to indulge the 
hope of the hypocrite? Who has occasion to rely 
upon the grace of God, in order to the exercise of 



'n; 



XXX INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 

a proud, selfish, false religion ? But let a man set 
up before him a religion which agrees with the 
word of God, particularly with the prominent pas- 
sages quoted above; and let him make it the great 
object of his desires and efforts to cultivate such a 
religion, and to exhibit all its lovely fruits ; and he 
will quickly learn that his strength is weakness. 
He will find that the practice of true religion is to- 
tally against the natural dispositions of his heart; 
that it requires constant self-denial; a constant 
struggle against the law in his members; a constant 
endeavour to subdue and mortify his corrupt heart; 
that it must involve him in an endless warfare 
against hostile powers without and within. The 
labor he undertakes is arduous. The travel is all 
the way up-hill, and frequently up very steep as- 
cents. Every one who truly enlists in this work, 
will quickly find, and will find more and more clear- 
ly as he proceeds, that he is exceedingly weak and 
insufficient, and that his help must come from the 
Lord who made heaven and earth. 

Believing, as all Christians do, that the Scripture 
is the only safe and infallible rule, we ought so to 
regard it in our own practice. When we go to our 
places of retirement to commune with our own 
hearts, and to examine ourselves ; we have to do 
with nothing as a rule of judgment, but the word of 
God. Away, then, ye false imaginations, dreams, 
passionate excitements, mental convulsions. " To 
the law and to the testimony." This is our stand- 
ard. And the right application of this to our own 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. XXXI 

case requires the tranquillity and stillness which we 
enjoy in retirement. Here the all-important ques- 
tion arises ; are we Christians ? We cannot safely 
trust to the opinion of our friends. They look 
only on the outward appearance. We go directly 
to our Statute Book, our sure guide. We open the 
sacred volume. We " ask for the old paths, where is 
the good way ?" We turn to one and another pas- 
sage of holy writ; particularly to the passages 
which I have quoted, and others of like kind ; for 
it is best to have particular places before our eyes, 
at one time this, and at another time that. Then 
looking to God for the guidance of his Spirit, we 
inquire whether the traits of character thus present- 
ed to view, are ours. If we can stand the trial of 
God's word, faithfully applied, we are heirs of eter- 
nal life. If not, we shall be cast away as dross. 
The word of God, which we receive as our rule, is 
immutable. Other things change and pass away ; 
but this abideth forever. The world, especially at 
the present day, is full of inventions. The active, 
restless mind of man is ever seeking after some- 
thing new. But there is no such thing as a new 
religion, or a new way to heaven. All that which 
deserves the name of religion, and which will be 
approved at the final judgment, agrees with the 
same standard. In this standard there can be no 
alteration ; and of course none in the religion which 
is conformed to it. All the true religion which will 
exist in our country, and in the world, the present 
year, and the present generation, whether com- 



rr 



XXXll INTRODUCTORY ESSAY* 

mencing in revivals or not, — and all which will ex- 
ist to the millenium, will be just such religion as 
is described by our Saviour in his sermon on the 
mount, and just such as Paul describes, when 
he tells us what are the fruits of the Spirit, and 
such as is described in the various passages above 
cited, and in other passages of scripture relating 
to the same subject. If we possess this religion, 
we are happy here and hereafter. If not, whatever 
our present appearances and hopes, we have no 
part or lot among the heirs of heaven. 

The Lectures which follow, I have read with an 
uncommon degree of pleasure. I regard it as a 
circumstance highly auspicious to the cause of re- 
vivals, and to all the interests of religion, that the 
author has, through the grace of God, been enabled 
to write and preach a series of Lectures so judi- 
cious, candid, and impressive, and, what is still 
more important, so scriptural ; and that he has con- 
sented to give them to the pubHc. It is my earnest 
hope that they will be read with attention and pro- 
fit by our religious community, far and near, and 
that their usefulness will extend to other nations. I 
would devoutly commend them, together with these 
prefatory remarks, to the blessing of God. 

LEONARD WOODS. 

Theol. Seminary, 

Jindover, March 10, 1832. 



LECTURE I. 



NATURE OF A REVIVAL. 



Isaiah xlv. 8, 

Drop downy ye heavens^ from above, and let the skies pour down 
righteousness ; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salva- 
tion, and let righteousness spring up together. 

The final and complete triumph of the church was 
a theme at which the mind of this prophet was al- 
ways ready to kindle. So infinitely superior did he 
regard it to any thing that respects merely the pre- 
sent world, that when his predictions relate immedi- 
ately to temporal mercies, they often look farther to 
spiritual blessings; and sometimes we find him ap- 
parently forgetting himself for a moment, and pass- 
ing abruptly, and almost imperceptibly, from some 
national deliverance to the salvation of the gospel. 
In the verses immediately preceding our text, there 
is a manifest reference to the deliverance of the Jews 
from their captivity in Babylon ; but in the text itself, 
there is a sudden transition to a subject of far higher 
import, even the blessings of Christ's salvation; 
and this latter subject continues to engross the pro- 
1 



LECTURE I. 



phet's mind to the close of the chapter. "Drop 
down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies 
pour down righteousness : let the earth open, and 
let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness 
spring up together." 

There was some partial fulfilment of this predic- 
tion in the revival of true piety which attended the 
return of the Jews from Babylon ; though it is evi- 
dently to be considered as referring principally to 
the more extensive prevalence of religion under the 
gospel dispensation. It may be regarded, in a ge- 
neral sense, as denoting the abundant grace by which 
the gospel would be attended, casting into the shade 
all previous measures of divine influence which had 
been enjoyed by the church; or it maybe consi- 
dered more particularly — as referring to special 
occasions, on which the agency of the Spirit would 
be signally manifest. In this latter sense, it may be 
applied to the wonderful effusions of the Holy 
Ghost which attended the preaching of Peter on 
the day of Pentecost; and to what in these latter 
days we are accustomed to denominate revivals of 
religion. It is in its application to revivals that I 
purpose to consider it at the present time. 

I here commence a series of discourses, in which 
it will be my object to present before you, in its va- 
rious bearings, the subject of Revivals of Reli- 
gion. The reasons which have determined me to 
this course, and the grounds on which I beg leave to 
commend this subject to your special attention, are 
the following: 



LECTURE I. 3 

1. It is a subject in which the church, especially 
in this country, is, at this moment^ more deeply and 
practically interested than almost any other. You 
cannot look back upon the history of our American 
church, and compare the past with the present, with- 
out perceiving that within the last half century a won- 
derful change has taken place in the order of God's 
providence towards it. It is true, indeed, that through 
the ministry of Whitfield and others, there was a 
revival of considerable extent in this country, a lit- 
tle before the middle of the last century ; but owing 
to various causes, which I shall not now stop to 
specify, the fruits of it were, in no small degree, 
blasted; and from that period till near the begin- 
ning of the present century, the church was only 
enlarged by very gradual additions. But at the pe- 
riod last mentioned, a different state of things seem^ 
ed to commence, in the more copious and sudden 
effusions of the Holy Spirit; and now it has come 
to pass in these days in which we live, that far the 
greater number of those who are turned from dark- 
ness to light, so far as we can judge, experience this 
change, during revivals of religion. It is for revi- 
vals that the church is continually praying; and to 
them that she is looking for accessions both to her 
numbers and her strength. The praise of revivals 
is upon her lips, and upon the lips of her sons and 
daughters, who come crowding to her solemn feasts. 
Such being the fact, no one can doubt that this is a 
subject which she ought well to understand; — 



4 LECTURE I. 

which all should understand, who care for Zion's 
prosperity. 

2. This is a subject in which the church is not 
only deeply interested at the present time, but is 
likely to be more and more interested ybr a long 
time to come. The cause of revivals has hitherto 
been gradually and yet constantly gaining ground. 
The last year has been, in this respect, unparalleled 
in the annals of the church ; and there is much in 
prophecy to warrant the conviction that, as the mil- 
lenial day draws near, these effusions of the Holy 
Spirit will be yet more frequent and powerful. 
Every thing decides that this is to be a practical 
subject, not with the present generation only, but 
with many generations to come. It is desirable, 
therefore, that we should form correct views of it, 
not merely for our own sake, but for the sake of 
those who come after us ; for our views no doubt 
will, to a great extent, be propagated to future ge- 
nerations. 

3. The views which we form on this subject, and 
the course we adopt in respect to it, must determine, 
in a great measure, the actual effect of revivals upon 
the interests of the church. This is a matter in re- 
lation to which God is pleased to leave much to 
human instrumentality. It is possible that his peo- 
ple may co-operate with him in carrying forward a 
revival, by such means that there may be many 
sound and scriptural conversions, and that his cause 
may thereby be greatly advanced; and it is possi- 
ble that, by the neglect of duty, or by the adoption 



LECTURE I. 5 

of mistaken and unscriptural measures, they may- 
grieve away the Holy Spirit, or confirm multitudes 
in fatal self-deception. It is not to be questioned 
that what commonly passes under the name of a re- 
vival of religion is an engine of prodigious power 
in the church. God intends it only for good: ne- 
vertheless it is capable of being perverted to evil. 
As so much, then, in respect to the influence of re- 
vivals is dependant on the human agency that is 
employed in them, and as our conduct on this sub- 
ject will take its complexion from our views, you 
perceive that it is a matter of great moment that our 
views should be correct. 

4. Every member of the church, whatever may 
be his standing in society, has a part to act in rela- 
tion to this subject, and therefore ought to be en- 
lightened concerning it. In days that have gone by, 
this may have been thought a matter almost exclu- 
sively for ministers and other officers of the church f 
while private Christians may have imagined, that 
out of their closets they had little to do in relation 
to it, but to look on and behold the wonderful work 
of God. But happily this mistake has, to a great 
extent, been corrected; and it seems now to be al- 
most universally admitted, that this is a field in 
which even the obscurest Christian may find a place 
to labor. In a community in which there prevails 
a spirit of deep religious anxiety, and many are just 
forming the purpose to set their faces toward hea- 
ven, and many others are beginning to hope that 
they have yielded themselves to God, there must 



6 LECTURE I. 

needs be much occasion for private counsel and in- 
struction; and the persons most hkely to be apphed 
to are often those with whom the individuals con- 
cerned happen to be most intimately associated. 
Every one, therefore, ought to be competent to give 
at least some general directions. One right direc- 
tion, in certain circumstances, may be the means of 
saving the soul. One wrong direction, in similar 
circumstances, of ruining it forever. If all Chris- 
tians, then, are so deeply and practically interested 
in this subject, there is good reason why it should 
be brought before you as a distinct theme for con- 
templation and instruction. 

Having now stated some reasons for bringing this 
subject before you at this time, I proceed to the 
main design of the discourse, which is to exhibit 
the NATURE of a revival of religion. And that we 
may do this intelligently, it will be necessary previ- 
ously to answer the question, in a single word, what 
is the nature oi religion^ 

Religion consists in a conformity of heart and 
life to the will of God. It consists in a principle of 
obedience implanted in the soul, and in the opera- 
tion of that principle in the conduct. Religion is 
substantially the same in all worlds ; though the re- 
ligion of a sinner is modified, in some respects, by 
his peculiar character and condition. In common 
with the religion of the angels, it consists in love 
to God — to his law, to his government, to his ser- 
vice ; but in distinction from that, it consists in re- 
pentance of sin ; faith in the merits of a crucified 



LECTURE I. 7 

Saviour; resignation under trials; opposition to 
spiritual enemies. Moreover, religion in the angels 
is an inherent principle ; it begins with their exist- 
ence ; but in the human heart it is something su- 
perinduced by the operation of the Spirit of God. 
Wherever there exists a cordial belief of God's 
truth, and submission of the will to his authority, 
and the graces of the heart shine forth in the virtues 
of the life, there is true religion ; whether it be in 
the palace or the cottage ; whether it appear in a 
single individual, or be diffused over a whole com- 
munity. 

Now if such be the nature of religion, you will rea- 
dily perceive in what consists a revival of religion. 
It is a revival of scriptural knowledge ; of vital pi- 
ety ; of practical obedience. The term revival of 
religion has sometimes been objected to, on the 
ground that a revival of any thing supposes its pre- 
vious existence ; whereas in the renovation of sin- 
ners, there is a principle implanted which is entirely 
new. But though the fact implied in this objection 
is admitted, the objection itself has no force ; be- 
cause the term is intended to be applied in a ge- 
neral sense, to denote the improved religious state 
of a congregation, or of some other conmiunity. 
And it is moreover applicable, in a strict sense, 
to the condition of Christians, who, at such a sea- 
son, are in a greater or less degree revived ; and 
whose increased zeal is usually rendered instru- 
mental of the conversion of sinners. Wherever 
then you see religion rising up from a state of 



8 LECTURE I. 

comparative depression to a tone of increased vigor 
and strength ; wherever you see professing Chris- 
tians becoming more faithful to their obhgations, 
and behold the strength of the church increased by 
fresh accessions of piety from the world ; there is a 
state of things which you need not hesitate to de- 
nominate a revival of religion. 

Such a state of things may be advantageously 
represented under several distinct particulars. 

1. The first step usually is an increase of zeal and 
devotedness on the part of God^s people. They wake 
up to a sense of neglected obligations ; and resolve 
to return to the faithful discharge of duty. They 
betake themselves with increased earnestness to the 
throne of grace ; confessing their delinquencies with 
deep humility, and supplicating the aids of God's 
Spirit to enable them to execute their pious resolu- 
tions, and to discharge faithfully the various duties 
which devolve upon them. There too they impor- 
tunately ask for the descent of the Holy Ghost on 
those around them ; on the church with which they 
are connected ; on their friends who are living at a 
distance from God ; on all who are out of the ark 
of safety. Their conversation becomes proportion- 
ally more spiritual and edifying. They endeavor to 
stir up one another's minds by putting each other in 
remembrance of their covenant vows, and impress- 
ing each other with their individual and mutual re- 
sponsibilities. When they meet in the common in- 
tercourse of life, their conversation shows that the 
world is with them but a subordinate matter ; and 



LECTURE I. y 

that their controlling desire is, that God may be glo- 
rified in the salvation of sinners. They find it no 
difficult matter to be faithful in pressing the obliga- 
tions of religion upon those who are indifferent to 
it; in warning them of their danger; and in be- 
seeching them with the earnestness of Christian 
aflfection to be reconciled to God. It is a case of 
no uncommon occurrence at such a season that a 
professor of religion, under a deep sense of his wan- 
derings, comes to regard his own Christian charac- 
ter with the utmost distrust ; and sometimes wan- 
ders many days in darkness, before the joys of sal- 
vation are restored to his soul. There are indeed 
some professors who sleep through such a scene ; 
and probably some who join with the wicked, so far 
as they dare, in opposing it ; but many at least are 
awake ; are humble ; are active ; and come up to 
the help of the Lord with renewed zeal and strength. 
2. Another prominent feature in the state of things 
which I am describing, is the alarm and conviction of 
those who have hitherto been careless. Sometimes the 
change in this respect is very gradual ; and for a 
considerable time nothing more can be said than that 
there is a more hstening ear, and a more serious as- 
pect, than usual, under the preaching of the word ; 
and this increased attention is gradually matured 
into deep solemnity and pungent conviction. In 
other cases, the reigning lethargy is suddenly bro- 
ken up, as if there had come a thunderbolt from 
eternity ; and multitudes are heard simultaneously 
inquiring what they shall do to be saved. The young 



10 LECTURE I. 

man, and the old man, and the middle aged man ; 
the exemplary and orthodox moralist, the haughty 
pharisee, the downright infidel, the profane scoflfer, 
the dissipated sensualist, may sometimes all be seen 
collected with the same spirit in their hearts — a 
spirit of deep anxiety ; and the same question up- 
on their lips — how they shall escape the threaten- 
ing woes of perdition ? In some cases, the convic- 
tion which is felt prompts to silence, and you are left 
to learn it from downcast looks, or as the case may 
be, from half-stifled sobs. In other cases, there is 
no effect at concealment, and the deep anguish of 
the heart comes out in expressions of the most pain- 
ful solicitude. Those who once would have dis- 
dained any thing which should indicate the least 
concern for their salvation, hesitate not to ask and 
to receive instruction even from the obscurest Chris- 
tian, or to place themselves in circumstances which 
are a virtual acknowledgement to all that they feel 
their danger and desire to escape from it. All the 
shame which they once felt on this subject they have 
given to the winds ; and their commanding desire 
now is, that they may find that peace which passeth 
understanding ; that hope which is full of immor- 
tality. 

There are others who are partially awakened ; 
whose attention is in some measure excited, but not 
enough to prompt to any decided and vigorous ef- 
fort. They look on and see what is passing ; and 
acknowledge God's agency in it ; and at times mani- 
fest some feeling in respect to their own condition, 



LECTURE I. 11 

and express a wish that they may have more. They 
attend regularly not only upon the ordinary but up- 
on some of the extraordinary means of grace, and 
treat the whole subject not only with great respect, 
but with decided seriousness ; but after all do not 
advance to the decisive point of repentance, or even 
of true conviction of sin. In this state they often 
remain for a considerable time ; until they return 
to their accustomed carelessness ; or by some new 
impulse from on high they are carried forward and 
become the subjects of a genuine conversion ; or else 
they are taken away in the midst of their half formed 
resolutions to a world where they will learn, to their 
eternal cost, that it was was most dangerous to trifle 
with the Spirit of God. 

There are still others belonging to the same gen- 
eral class of awakened sinners, who struggle against 
their convictions ; whose consciences proclaim to 
them that their all is in jeopardy, but who try to dis- 
credit the testimony. These persons sometimes 
rush with unaccustomed avidity into the haunts of 
business or the haunts of pleasure. They throw 
themselves into vain company, or engage in read- 
ing idle or infidel books ; and in some instances 
even venture to deny what is passing within them, 
and to jeer at what is passing around them. Wher- 
ever you hear scoffing, and witness violent opposi- 
tion in a revival of religion, it is scarcely possible 
that you should mistake, if you should put down 
those by whom it is exhibited on the list of awaken- 
ed sinners. The true account of it is, that there is 



12 LECTURE I. 

a war between the conscience and the passions. 
Conscience is awake and doing its office, and the 
heart is in rebeUion against its dictates. 

3. It also belongs essentially to a revival of reli- 
gion, that there are those, from time to time, who 
are indulging a hope that they are reconciled to God, 
and are horn of the Spirit, In some cases the change 
of feeling is exceedingly gradual, insomuch that the 
individual, though he is sensible of having experi- 
enced a change within a given period, is yet utterly 
unable to refer it to any particular time. Sometimes 
the soul suddenly emerges from darkness into light, 
and perceives a mighty change in its exercises, al- 
most in the twinkling of an eye. Sometimes there is 
a state of mind which is only peaceful ; sometimes it 
mounts up to joy and ecstacy. In some cases there 
is from the beginning much self distrust ; in others 
much — too much, confidence. But with a great 
variety of experience, there are many who are 
brought, or who believe themselves brought, into 
the kingdom of Christ. They give reason to hope 
they have taken the new song upon their lips. Chil- 
dren sing their young hosannas to the Lamb that 
was slain. The aged tell with gratitude of what 
God has done for them while on the margin of the 
grave. Saints on earth rejoice, and in proportion 
as the work is genuine, so also do saints and angels 
in heaven. The church receives a fresh and often a 
rich accession both to her numbers and her strength ; 
an accession which, in some cases, raises her from 



LECTURE I. 13 

the dust, and causes her to look forth in health and 
beauty. 

Such are the more prominent features of what 
we commonly call a revival of religion. But revi- 
vals, like every thing else that is good, have their 
counterfeits ; and not unfrequently there is a spu- 
rious admixture in those which, on the whole, must 
be considered genuine. It becomes therefore a mat- 
ter of great importance that we discriminate accu- 
rately between the precious and the vile ; that we 
do not mistake a gust of animal passion for the 
awakening or converting operations of God's Holy 
Spirit. We will inquire briefly what are not, and 
what are, the indications of a genuine revival. 

1. It is no certain indication of a genuine revi- 
val, that there is great excitement. It is admitted 
indeed that great excitement may attend a true re- 
vival ; but it is not the necessary accompaniment of 
one, and it may exist where the work is wholly spu- 
rious. It may be an excitement produced not by 
the power of divine truth, but by artificial stimulus 
applied to the imagination and the passions, for the 
very purpose of producing commotion both within 
and without. Instances have occurred in which 
Jehovah who has declared himself a God of order, 
has been professedly worshipped in scenes of utter 
confusion; and impiety has been substituted for 
prayer ; and the wildest reveries of fanaticism have 
been dealt out, instead of the sober and awful truths 
of God's word. Here is the highest excitement ; 
but it surely does not prove that the scene in which 



14 LECTURE I. 

it exists is a genuine revival. It does not stamp 
confusion and irreverence, and impiety, with the seal 
of God's Spirit. On the other hand, there may be 
a true revival where all is calm and noiseless ; and 
multitudes of hearts may be broken in contrition 
and yielded up to God, which have never been agi- 
tated by any violent, much less convulsive emotions, 
nor even breathed forth a single sob, unless in the 
silence of the closet, and into the ear of mercy. 

2. It is no certain evidence of a genuine revival 
that great numbers profess to he converted. We are 
too much inclined, if I mistake not, to estimate the 
character of a revival by the number of professed 
converts ; whereas there is scarcely a more uncer- 
tain test than this. For who does not know that 
doctrines may be preached, or measures adopted, 
or standards of religious character set up, which 
shall lead multitudes, especially of the uninstructed, 
to misapprehend the nature of conversion, and to 
imagine themselves subjects of it, while they are yet 
in their sins ? We admit that there may be genuine 
revivals of great extent ; in which multitudes may 
be almost simultaneously made the subjects of God's 
grace ; but we confidently maintain that the mere 
fact that many profess to be converted does not 
prove a revival genuine. For suppose that every 
one of these individuals, or far the larger part of 
them, should finally fall away, this surely we should 
say, would prove the work spurious. If then, their 
having originally professed to be Christians proved 
it genuine, the same work is proved to be both genu- 



LECTURE I. 15 

ine and spurious. Does the fact that an individual 
imagines himself to be converted convey any cer- 
tain evidence of his conversion ? But if this is not 
true of an individual, it certainly cannot be true of 
any number of individuals ; for if one may be self 
deceived, so may many. It follows that the genu- 
ineness of a revival is to be judged of, in a great 
measure, independently of the number of its profess- 
ed subjects. 

3. Nor yet, thirdly, is the existence of an extensive 
and violent opposition^ any evidence that a revival is 
genuine. There are those who will have it, that 
God's Spirit cannot be poured out upon a commu- 
nity, but that all who are unrenewed, if their hearts 
are not at once broken in godly sorrow, will be ex- 
cited to WTath and railing. Now I admit fully that 
the carnal mind is enmity against God ; and I am 
willing to admit moreover that, in most cases, per- 
haps in all, in which revivals of any considerable 
extent exist, there are some who act out this enmity 
in the way of direct opposition; — some who re- 
vile God's people and ministers, and who ridicule 
even the operations of his Holy Spirit. But in an 
orderly and well instructed community, I hesitate 
not to say that we are not to look for any such ge- 
neral exhibition as this. Facts prove that there are 
multitudes who pass through a revival without be- 
coming personally interested in it, who still never 
utter a word against it, and who say, and doubtless 
say honestly, that they feel no sensible hostility to- 
wards it. They have indeed a heart at enmity with 



16 LECTURE I. 

God ; but that enmity may operate in some differ- 
ent way ; or it may be to a certain extent controlled 
and neutralized by constitutional qualities or habits 
of education ; and they may never feel a disposi- 
tion to rail at God's work on the one hand, and may 
be as little inclined to yield themselves to his ser- 
vice on the other. While I admit therefore that the 
natural enmity of the heart does sometimes assume 
the form of direct opposition against revivals, where 
there is nothing censurable in the manner in which 
they are conducted, I am constrained to believe that 
the opposition which is often complained of, or ra- 
ther gloried in, is opposition to harsh expressions 
which are fitted to irritate, but not to enlighten, to 
convince, or in any way to profit. And then how 
natural is it that the odium should be transferred, 
or rather extended, from the severe language and 
questionable measures, to the revival with which they 
are connected ; and so it comes to pass that a vio- 
lent prejudice really grows up in the mind against 
the whole subject of revivals, which originated in the 
imprudent and mistaken zeal of some of their friends. 
There are those, I know, who court opposition on 
these occasions, and who seem to think that nothing 
can be done to purpose, until the voice of railing is 
heard from without. Such persons are sure to find 
the opposition they seek ; and in encountering it, 
instead of suffering for righteousness' sake, they are 
buffetted for their own faults. I repeat then, a ge- 
nuine work of God's grace may be extensively op- 



LECTURE I. 17 

posed ; but the existence of such opposition does 
not evince it to be genuine. 

What then are some of the indications of a ge- 
nuine revival of rehgion ? 

1. The fact that any thing which claims to be a 
revival has been effected hy scriptural means, is an 
evidence in favor of its genuineness. 

God has given us his word not only as a rule of 
faith but of practice ; and in the same proportion 
that we adhere to it, we have a right to expect his 
blessing; in the same proportion that we depart 
from it, we have reason to expect his frown. His 
own institutions he will honor ; and the institutions 
of men, so far as they are conformed to the spirit 
of his word, he will also honor ; but whenever the 
latter are put in place of the former, or exalted 
above them, or assume a shape which God's word 
does not warrant, we cannot suppose that he can 
regard them with favor ; and even if, for a time, 
there should seem to be a blessing, there is reason 
to believe that the event will show that in that ap- 
parent blessing were bound up the elements of a 
curse. 

Now apply this to the subject of revivals. Sup- 
pose there were to be a powerful excitement on the 
subject of religion produced by means which are at 
war with the spirit of the gospel ; — suppose doc- 
trines were to be preached which the gospel does 
not recognize, and doctines omitted which the gos- 
pel regards fundamental ; — suppose that for the sim- 
ple, and honest, and faithful use of the sword of the 
3 



18 LECTURE I. 

Spirit, there should be substituted a mass of ma- 
chinery designed to produce its effect on the ani- 
mal passions ; — suppose the substance of religion, 
instead of being made to consist in repentance, and 
faith, and holiness, should consist of falling, and 
groaning, and shouting ; — we should say unhesita- 
tingly that that could not be a genuine work of di- 
vine grace ; or if there were some pure wheat, there 
must be a vast amount of chaff and stubble. It 
may be safe to admit even in the wildest scenes, the 
possibility of some genuine conversions ; because 
there may be some truth preached, and some believ- 
ing prayer offered, which God may regard and 
honor, notwithstanding all the error and delusion 
with which it may be mingled. But in general it is 
perfectly fair to conclude that when men become 
dissatisfied with plain Bible truth, and simple Bible 
measures, and undertake to substitute doctrines or 
devices of their own, any excitement which may be 
produced, however extensive, however powerful, is 
of an exceedingly dubious character. If the effect 
partake of the same character with the cause, it 
must be of the earth, earthy. 

On the other hand, where there is an attention to 
religion excited by the plain and faithful preaching 
of God's truth in all its length and breadth, and by 
the use of those simple and honest means which 
God's wor4 either directly prescribes or fairly sanc- 
tions, we cannot reasonably doubt that here is a 
genuine work of the Holy Spirit. The means used 
may be in some respects feeble ; that is, there may 



LECTURE I. 19 

be the entire absence of an eloquent and powerful 
ministry ; nevertheless if God's truth is dispensed 
fairly, and fully, and with godly sincerity, and other 
corresponding means used in a corresponding man- 
ner, the effect which is produced may reasonably 
be attributed to the operation of divine grace ; and 
it is a fact which does great honor to the sovereignty 
of God, that the humblest instrumentality, when well 
directed, has often been honored by a multitude of 
conversions, which a course of holy living has prov- 
ed sound and genuine. 

If then we have a right to say that God honors 
his own word and his own institutions, the means 
employed in producing and carrying forward a revi- 
val furnish a good criterion by which to determine 
its character. It may not always be easy accurately 
to apply this rule in given cases, because there is 
often a strange mixture of good and bad ; but with- 
out deciding how far any particular revival is genu- 
ine or spurious, we may safely decide that it is so 
in the same proportion that it is sustained .by scrip- 
tural or unscriptural instrumentality. 

2. A genuine revival is characterized by a due 
proportion of reflection and feeling* 

I will not undertake to decide what amount of 
scriptural knowledge is necessary to conversion in 
any given case, or to question the fact that men un- 
der certain circumstances may be renewed where 
their knowledge is very limited ; nevertheless it is 
certain that religious reflection precedes religious 
feeling in the order of nature. Before men can 



20 LECTURE I. 

feel remorse, much more contrition, for their sins, 
they must have held strongly to their minds the fact 
that they are sinners. They must have reflected 
upon what it is to be a sinner ; on the character of 
God, not only as a Father, but a Lawgiver ; on the 
reasonableness of their obligations to Him, and on 
the guilt of violating those obligations. Before they 
can exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they must 
have reflected on the character of Christ, on the ful- 
ness of his atonement, and on the freeness and since- 
rity of the gospel ofler. The Holy Spirit employs 
the truth not only in the work of sanctification, but 
even in the work of conversion ; and the truth can 
never find its way to the heart, except through the 
understanding. If then the great truths of God's 
word are steadily held up before the mind as sub- 
jects of reflection ; and if the feeling which is mani- 
fested by sinners, whether of anxiety and distress, 
or of peace and joy, be the effect of such reflection, 
there is good reason to believe that God's Spirit is 
really at work, and that that which claims to be a 
revival is really one. But if, in such a scene, the 
mind be kept in a great degree passive, if there be 
a great deal of feeling with very little thought — 
burning heat with only dim and doubtful light ; if the 
sensibilities of the soul be wrought into a storm, 
none can tell how or why ; then rely on it, it is not 
a work which God owns ; or if there are some true 
conversions, far the greater number may be expect- 
ed to prove spurious. But 



LECTURE I. 21 

3. That on which we are principally to rely as 
evidence of the genuineness of a revival, is its sub- 
stantial and abiding fruit. Precisely the same rule 
is to be applied to a revival as to individual ca- 
ses of hopeful conversion. Those who have been 
most conversant with the subject of religious expe- 
rience, do not rely chiefly for evidence of piety on 
the pungency of one's convictions, or the transports 
by which they may be succeeded, or the professions 
which may be made of devotedness to Christ ; for 
they have learned that all this is equivocal ; and that 
delusion and self-deception are consistent with the 
most promising appearances which are ever exhibit- 
ed. While, therefore, they may hope favorably from 
what they see at the beginning, before they form a 
decisive opinion they wait to see whether the indi- 
vidual can endure temptation ; whether he is faith- 
ful in the discharge of all duty ; whether he is a 
good soldier of Jesus Christ. And if they see the 
fruits of holiness abounding in the life, whether the 
appearance at the beginning were more or less fa- 
vorable, they infer with confidence that a principle 
of holiness has been implanted in the heart. In the 
same manner are we to test the character of revi- 
vals. If an excitement on the subject of religion 
(no matter how great it may have been) passes 
away, and leaves behind little or no substantial and 
enduring good; if most of those who profess to 
have been converted return speedily or gradually to 
the world, living a careless life, and exhibiting an 
unedifying example ; or if they manifest a spirit of 



22 LECTURE I. 

pride, and uncharitableness, and a disposition to 
condemn all who do not exactly come to their stand- 
ard, then rely on it, though that may be called a re- 
vival of religion, it has little more than the name. 
But if, after the excitement has gone by, the fruits 
of holiness remain and become more and more ma- 
ture, if those who have been professedly converted 
hold on a course of humble, self denied, devoted 
obedience, exemplifying the spirit of Christ as well 
as professing his name, then you may take know- 
ledge of them that they have come out of a true re- 
vival of religion. Religion acted out in the life is 
the best evidence that religion has its dwelling in 
the heart. Let the virtues and graces of the Chris- 
tian adorn the lives of those who have professed to 
be converted during a revival, and you need ask for 
no better evidence that there has been the agency 
of the Spirit of God. 

Such, as it seems to me, are the characteristics 
of a genuine revival of religion. I shall not stop 
here to prove that such a state of things has every 
thing in it to interest the best feelings of the Chris- 
tian. If you have ever felt the power of God's 
grace, and especially if your hearts are now awake 
to the interests of his kingdom, and the salvation 
of your fellow men, it cannot be a matter of indif- 
ference with you whether or not God's work is to be 
revived in the midst of us. Let me entreat you 
then, as this subject is for several successive weeks 
to occupy your attention, to be fellow helpers to- 
gether, in humble dependence on God's grace, to 



LECTURE I. 23 

procure for ourselves those rich blessings on which 
your meditations will turn. While we are endea- 
voring to form correct views of this important sub- 
ject, may we get our hearts thoroughly imbued with 
its spirit ; and be able to point with devout joy to 
what is passing in the midst of us, as an example 
of a genuine, scriptural revival of religion. 



I 



LECTURE II. 



DEFENCE OF REVIVALS. 



Acts ii. 13. 
Others mockingy saidy these men are full of new wine. 

The occasion on which these words were spoken, 
marked a memorable era in the history of the church. 
The disciples of Jesus, a few days after his ascen- 
sion, being assembled for devotional exercises in a 
certain room, in the city of Jerusalem, where they 
had been accustomed to meet, were surprised by a 
marvellous exhibition of the mighty power of God. 
There came suddenly a sound from heaven, as of 
a violent rushing wind ; and, at the same time, there 
appeared unto them a number of divided tongues, 
made as it were of fire ; and it was so ordered that 
one of these tongues rested upon each of them. 
And at the moment that these tongues, or lambent 
flames touched them, they were filled, in an extra- 
ordinary degree, with the Holy Spirit ; and began 
to speak a variety of languages which they had ne- 
ver before understood, with a fluency and fervor 

which were beyond measure astonishing. It is 
4 



26 LECTURE II. 

hardly necessary to add that this was a most signal 
attestation to the divinity of the gospel, and a glo- 
rious pledge of the Redeemer's final and complete 
triumph. 

It is not strange that so wonderful an event as 
this should have been instantly noised abroad, or 
that it should have excited much curiosity and spe- 
culation. Accordingly, we are informed that the 
multitude came together, and were amazed to find 
that the fact was as had been represented ; that these 
ignorant Gallileans had suddenly become masters of 
a great variety of languages ; and were talking with 
men of diflferent nations as fluently as if they had 
been speaking in their own mother tongue. The 
true way of accounting for this — that is, referring 
it to miraculous agency — they all seem to have over- 
looked ; nevertheless, as it was manifestly an effect 
of something, they could not but inquire in respect 
to the cause; and we have one specimen of the 
wisdom that was exercised on the occasion in the 
words of our text — " Others mocking, said, these 
men are full of new wine ;" — as if they soberly be- 
lieved that a state of intoxication, which often de- 
prives a man of the power of speaking his own 
language, had strangely given to them the power of 
speaking languages not their own, and which they 
had never learned. All will admit that this was the 
very infatuation of prejudice. 

The reason why this absurd and ridiculous ac- 
count was given of this miraculous occurrence was, 
that the individuals were at war with that system of 



LECTURE II. 27 

truth of which this was pre-eminently the seal ; they 
could not admit that it was an evidence of the tri- 
umph of the crucified Jesus ; and rather than even 
seem to admit it, they would sacrifice all claims to 
reason and common sense. Now I would not say 
that all objections that are made against revivals of 
religion, are made in the same spirit which prompt- 
ed this foolish declaration of these early opposers 
of the gospel ; but I am constrained to express my 
conviction that many of them are ; and hence I have 
chosen the passage now read as introductory to a 
consideration of Objections against Revivals. 
It was actually an effusion of the Holy Spirit, which 
drew forth the objection contained in the text ; the 
commencement of a scene, which terminated, as re- 
vivals now do, in the conversion of many souls, and 
an important addition to the Christian church. 

The sole object of this discourse then, will be to 
consider, and so far as I can, to meet, some of the 
most popular objections which are urged against re- 
vivals of religion. And I wish it distinctly borne 
in mind that the defence which I am to make re- 
lates, not to mere spurious excitements, but to ge- 
nuine revivals ; — such revivals as I have attempted 
to describe in the preceding discourse. 

I. The first of these objections which I shall no- 
tice is, that revivals of religion, as we use the phrase, 
are unscripturaL It is proper that this objection 
should be noticed first, because if it can be sustain- 
ed, it is of itself a sufficient reason not only for in- 
difference towards revivals, but for positive opposi- 



28 LECTURE II. 

tion to them ; and in that case, as it would be unne- 
cessary that we should proceed, so it would be only 
fair that, at the outset, we should surrender the 
whole ground. No matter what else may be said 
in favor of revivals ; no matter how important they 
may have been regarded, or how much we may 
have been accustomed to identify them with the 
prosperity of Christ's cause; if it can be fairly 
shown that they are unscriptural, we are bound un- 
hesitatingly to conclude that we have mistaken their 
true character. God's word is to be our standard 
in every thing ; and wherever we suffer considera- 
tions of expediency in reference to this or any other 
subject, to prevail against that standard, we set up 
our own wisdom against the wisdom of the Highest ; 
and we are sure thereby to incur his displeasure. 
To the law and the testimony then be our appeal. 

In order to denominate any thing that is connect- 
ed with the subject of religion unscriptural, it is not 
enough that we should be able to show that it is not 
expressly commanded; but we should also make 
it appear that it is either expressly or implicitly for- 
bidden. There are many things which all admit to 
be right among Christians, and which are even re- 
garded as important parts of duty, for which there 
is no express warrant in the Bible ; though no doubt 
they judge rightly when they suppose that they find 
a sufficient warrant for these things in the general spi- 
rit of the Bible. For instance the Bible has said 
nothing about the monthly concert of prayer for the 
conversion of the world, which is now so generally 



LECTURE II. 29 

observed throughout evangehcal Protestant Chris- 
tendom ; and of course this is not to be regarded as 
a divine institution ; but so long as God has com- 
manded his people to pray for the prosperity of Je- 
rusalem, and so long as the Saviour has promised to 
bless them where only two or three are met together 
in his name, it would be folly for any one to contend 
that the monthly concert is an antiscriptural institu- 
tion. The spirit of the Bible manifestly justifies it, 
though the letter of the Bible may not require it. In 
like manner, even if we were to admit that what we 
call a revival of religion, so far as human agency and 
influence are concerned, were not directly required 
by God's word, nevertheless, if it can be shown that 
it is consistent with the spirit of God's word, no 
man has a right to gainsay it, on the ground that it 
is unscriptural. 

Now we claim for revivals, (and it is the least 
that we claim for them on the score of divine au- 
thority) that there is nothing in the general spirit of 
the Bible that is unfavorable to them, but much of 
an opposite character. It is the tendency of all the 
instructions of God's word to form men to a habit 
of serious reflection; to abstract their affections 
from the world ; to lead them to commune with 
their hearts, and to commune with God, and to seek 
with greater earnestness than any thing else the sal- 
vation of the soul. Now this is precisely what is 
accomplished in a revival of religion. In such a 
scene, if any where, is fulfilled the great design of 
God's word in bringing men to serious considera- 



30 LECTURE II. 

tion; to self communion; to a right estimate of 
the comparative value of the things which are seen 
and are temporal, and the things which are not seen 
and are eternal. We say nothing here of the means 
employed, but simply speak of the effect produced ; 
and we are sure that no one who admits that the 
effect is as we have stated, will doubt that it is in 
keeping with the general tenor of God's word. 

But we need not stop here : for the Bible has 
given a more direct sanction to revivals ; and in va- 
rious ways. Look for instance at many of the 
prayers which it records, as having been offered for 
the spiritual prosperity of Zion, when she was in a 
state of deep depression. Says the Psalmist, " Turn 
us O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger 
towards us to cease. Wilt thou be angry with us 
forever ? Wilt thou draw out thine anger unto all 
generations ? Wilt thou not revive us again, that 
thy people may rejoice in thee ? Shew us thy mer- 
cy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation." And again, 
" Return we beseech thee O God of Hosts ; look 
down from heaven, and behold and visit this vine ; 
and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, 
and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself." 
And again, the prophet Habakkuk prays — " O Lord 
revive thy work ; in the midst of the years make 
known ; in wrath remember mercy." These prayers 
were offered in behalf of the church, when she was 
in a state of temporal bondage, as well as of spirit- 
ual affliction; nevertheless, they relate especially 
to spiritual blessings ; and what was meant by a re- 



LECTURE II. 31 

vival then, was substantially the same thing as what 
is intended by a revival now. Accordingly, we find 
that these very prayers are constantly used by the 
church at this day ; and that from a regard to them, 
as we cannot doubt, God often appears to lengthen 
her cords and strengthen her stakes ; the blessings 
of divine grace descend upon her in such profusion, 
that she puts on her beautiful garments, and looks 
forth fair as the morning. 

There are also recorded in the scriptures many sig- 
nal instances in which God has poured out his spirit, 
and effected a sudden and general reformation. If 
you go back to the Jewish dispensation, you will 
find this remark strikingly verified in the reigns of 
David and Solomon, of Asa and Jehosaphat, of He- 
zekiah and Josiah. After the church had languish- 
ed during the long and gloomy period of the Baby- 
lonish captivity, her interests were signally revived 
under the ministry of Ezra. A similar state of 
things existed in the days of John the Baptist, when 
the kingdom of heaven is said to have suffered vio- 
lence, and many of the most profligate part of the 
community became impressed with religious truth, 
and were baptized unto repentance. On the occa- 
sion referred to in our text, no less than three 
thousand, and on the day following two thousand 
more, were subdued to the obedience of the truth, 
and were added to the Lord. Shortly after this, 
multitudes in Samaria experienced the regenerating 
power of the gospel ; and upon the dispersion of 
the disciples after the martyrdom of Stephen, they 



r 



32 LECTURE II. 

were instrumental of exciting a general attention to 
religion in the remote parts of Judea, and even as 
far as the territories of Greece. Here then are facts 
recorded by the unerring finger of inspiration, pre- 
cisely analagous to those which the objection we 
are considering declares to be unscriptural. 

But in addition to this, there is much in the prophe-^ 
cies which might fairly lead us to expect the very 
scenes which we denominate revivals of religion. 
If you read the prophetical parts of scripture at- 
tentively, you cannot, I think, but be struck with 
the evidence that, as the millenial day approaches, 
the operations of divine grace are to be increasing- 
ly rapid and powerful. Many of these predictions 
respecting the state of religion under the Christian 
dispensation, it is manifest, have not yet had their 
complete fulfilment ; and they not only justify the 
belief that these glorious scenes which we see 
passing really are of divine origin, as they claim to 
be, but that similar scenes still more glorious, still 
more wonderful, are to be expected, as the Messi- 
ah travels in the greatness of his strength^towards 
a universal triumph. I cannot but think that many 
of the inspired predictions in respect to the pro- 
gress of religion, appear overstrained, unless we ad- 
mit that the church is to see greater things than she 
has yet seen ; and that they fairly warrant the con- 
clusion that succeeding generations rejoicing in the 
brighter light of God's truth, and the richer manifes- 
tations of his grace, may look back even upon this 



LECTURE II. 33 

blessed era of revivals, as a period of comparative 
darkness. 

If then the general spirit of the Bible be in favor 
of revivals ; if the prayers which holy and inspired 
men have offered for them are here recorded ; if 
there be many instances here mentioned of their 
actual occurrence ; and if the spirit of prophecy 
has been exercised in describing and predicting 
them ; then we may consider the objection that they 
are unscriptural as fairly set aside ; nay, we may 
regard them as having the sanction of divine au- 
thority in the highest and clearest possible manner. 

II. It is objected, again, that revivals of religion 
are unnecessary. In the mouth of an infidel, this 
objection would doubtless imply that religion itself 
is unnecessary ; and so, of course, must be all the 
means used for its promotion. But in this view it 
does not fall within our present design to consider 
it. There are those who profess to regard religion, 
who maintain that revivals are modern innovations ; 
and that they are unnecessary on the ground that 
the cause of Christ may be sustained and advanc- 
ed, as it has been in other days, without them. This 
is the only form of the objection which it concerns 
us at present to notice. 

The first thing to be said in reply, is, that the ob- 
jection supposes what is not true — viz. that revivals 
are of modern origin. The truth is that if, as the 
objection asserts, the cause of religion in preceding 
ages has been sustained and carried forward with- 
out them, so also it has been sustained and carried 



34 LECTURE II. 

forward with them ; and during the periods in which 
they have prevailed, the church has seen her great- 
est prosperity. You have already seen that, instead 
of being of recent origin, they go back to an early 
period in the Jewish dispensation. And passing 
from the records of inspiration, we find that revi- 
vals have existed, with a greater or less degree of 
power, especially in the later periods of the Chris- 
tian church. This was emphatically true during the 
period of the Reformation in the sixteenth century : 
Germany, France, Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, 
the Low countries, and Britain, were severally visit- 
ed by copious showers of divine influence. During 
the season of the plague in London in 1665, there 
was a very general awakening ; in which many thou- 
sands are said to have been hopefully born of the 
Spirit. In the early part of the seventeenth centu- 
ry, various parts of Scotland and the North of Ire- 
land, were blessed, at different periods, with signal 
effusions of divine grace, in which great multitudes 
gave evidence of being brought out of darkness 
into marvellous light. During the first half of the 
last century, under the ministrations of Whitfield, 
Brainard, Edwards, Davies, the Tennents, and ma- 
ny other of the holiest and greatest men whose 
labors have blessed the church, there was a succes- 
sion of revivals in this country, which caused the 
wilderness to blossom as the rose, and the desert to 
put on the appearance of the garden of the Lord. 
And when these revivals declined, and the church 
settled back into the sluggish state from which she 



LECTURE II. 35 

had been raised, then commenced her decHne in pu- 
rity, in disciphne, in doctrine, in all with which her 
prosperity is most intimately connected. And this 
state of things continued, only becoming worse and 
worse, until, a little before the beginning of the pre- 
sent century, the spirit of revivals again burst forth, 
and has since that period richly blessed especially 
our American church. The fact then, most unfortu- 
nately for the objection we are considering, turns 
out to be, that if the church has been sustained at 
some periods without these signal effusions of the 
Holy Spirit, she has barely been sustained; and 
that the brightest periods of her history have been 
those, in which they have prevailed with the great- 
est power. To object to revivals then on the ground 
that they are modern, or that they are unnecessary 
to the best interests of the church, betrays an utter 
ignorance of their history. 

But let us inquire a little further why the old and 
quiet way, as it is often represented, of becoming 
religious, is the best. If you mean that you prefer 
that state of religion in which the dews of divine 
grace continually descend, and Christians are al- 
ways consistent and active, and there is a constant 
succession of conversions from among the impeni- 
tent, to the more sudden and rapid operations of 
God's Spirit — ^be it so ; there is as truly a revival in 
the one case as the other. But the state of things 
which this objection contemplates is that in which 
religion is kept in the back ground, and only 
here and there one at distant periods, comes for- 



36 LECTURE II. 

ward to confess Christ, and the church is habitu- 
ally in a languishing state. And is such a state of 
things to be preferred above that in which the sal- 
vation of the soul becomes the all engrossing object, 
and even hundreds within a little period, come and 
own themselves on the Lord's side ? Is it not de- 
sirable that sinners should be converted immediate- 
ly ? Are they liable every hour to die, and thus be 
beyond the reach of mercy and of hope ; and is it 
not right that they should be pressed with the obli- 
gations of immediate repentance ; and is it not ne- 
cessary that they should exert themselves to escape 
the tremendous doom by which they are threatened ? 
Is it more desirable that the mass of sinners should 
be sleeping on in guilty security, liable every hour 
to fall into the hands of a sin-avenging God, or that 
they should be escaping by multitudes from the 
coming wrath, and gaining an interest in the salva- 
tion of the gospel ? He, and only he, who will dare 
to say that the former is most desirable, can con- 
sistently object to revivals on the ground that the 
church had better revert to the quiet uniformity of 
other days. 

Still farther : Before you decide that revivals are 
unnecessary, you must either settle it that they are 
not the work of God, or else you must assume the 
responsibility of deciding that he is not doing his 
work in the best way. Will you take the former 
side of the alternative, and maintain that this is not 
God's work ? If you say this, then I challenge you to 
prove that God ever works in the renovation of men ; 



LECTURE II. 37 

for the only evidence of the existence of a princi- 
ple of religion in the heart, is the operation of that 
principle in the life ; and I hesitate not to say that 
I can show you as unequivocal fruits of holiness 
produced from a revival of religion, as you can show 
me in any other circumstances. Unless then you 
will assume the responsibility of saying that all the 
apparent faith, and love, and zeal, and holiness, 
which are produced from a revival, and which, so 
far as we can judge, have every characteristic of ge- 
nuineness, are spurious, it were rash to decide that 
this is not a work effected by the agency of the 
Holy Spirit. 

But if you admit that this is God's work, you 
surely will not dare to say that his way of accom- 
plishing his purpose is not the best. Suppose that 
nothing appeared to render this course of procedure 
especially desirable, yet the point being established 
that it is the course which God hath chosen, the re- 
flection that God's ways are not as our ways, ought 
to silence every doubt. But who, after all, will say 
that it even appears inconsistent with infinite wis- 
dom and goodness, as the cause of God is advanc- 
ing towards a complete triumph, that he should ope- 
rate more powerfully, more suddenly, than in some 
other periods ; in short, precisely as he does in a 
revival of religion ? Has God bound himself that 
he will convert men only by small numbers, or by a 
very gradual influence ; or does he not rather, in 
this respect, claim the right of absolute sovereign- 
ty ? I ask again in view of the bearing which this 



38 LECTURE II. 

objection has upon the character of God, who will 
dare say that revivals are unnecessary ? 

III. Another objection against revivals is, that 
they are the nurseries of enthusiasm. 

If by enthusiasm you mean a heated imagination 
that prompts to excesses in conduct, then you meet 
with it in other departments beside that of revivals. 
You will see as much enthusiasm in a political cabal, 
or in an election of civil officers, or in a commer- 
cial speculation, or even in the pursuits of science, 
as you will find in a revival of religion. Yes, be- 
lieve me, there is a worldly as well as a religious en- 
thusiasm : and let me inquire how it comes to pass 
that you can tolerate the former, nay perhaps that 
you can exemplify and cherish it, and yet can re- 
gard the latter with so much disapprobation and ab- 
horrence ? Does it not look a little as if your ob- 
jection lay rather against religion — the subject in 
respect to which the enthusiasm is exercised, than 
against the enthusiasm itself ? 

But are you sure that in passing judgment on 
the enthusiasm connected with revivals, you always 
call things by their right names ? Is it not more 
than possible that much of what you call by this 
name, may be the fervor of true love to God, and 
of genuine Christian zeal ? Suppose you were to 
go into a meeting composed entirely of persons of 
the same religious character with Isaiah, or David, 
or Paul ; and suppose they were to utter themselves 
in expressions not more fervent than these holy 
men have actually used, do you not believe that you 



LECTURE II. 39 

would think there was some enthusiasm in that 
meeting, and that the exercises would be better if 
they partook a little more of the earthly and a little 
less of the heavenly ? Between enthusiasm on the 
one hand, and conviction of sin and love to God, 
and zeal in religion on the other, there is really no 
affinity ; they are as unlike each other as any genu- 
ine quality is unlike its counterfeit ; but is there not 
some danger that they who have a heart opposed to 
religion, and who are willing to find excuses for the 
neglect of it, will brand some of the Christian graces 
when they shine with unusual brightness, with the 
opprobrious epithet of enthusiasm ? 

But suppose there is some real enthusiasm min- 
gled with revivals, (and to a certain extent, this no 
doubt must be admitted) shall we on this ground re- 
ject them altogether ? Because some few individu- 
als in such a scene may act the part of enthusiasts, is 
all the true Christian feeling, and Christian conduct, 
which is exemplified by many others to be considered 
of no account ? Or suppose, if you will, that a small 
degree of enthusiasm may pertain to all, does this 
nullify all the exercises of genuine and perhaps ele- 
vated piety with which it may happen to be connect- 
ed ? Where is the man who adopts the same prin- 
ciple in respect to his worldly affairs ? If you 
should import the productions of some foreign 
clime, and should discover that a small part of the 
quantity had been injured by the voyage, and that 
the rest had not suffered at all, would you cast the 
whole of it from you, or would you not rather make 



40 LECTURE II. 

a careful separation between the good and the bad, 
retaining the one, and rejecting the other ? Or if 
you should hear a lecture on science, or politics, or 
religion, or any other subject, in which you should 
discover a few mistakes, while nearly the whole of 
it was sound, and practical, and in a high degree 
instructive, would you condemn the whole for these 
trifling errors, and say it was all a mass of absurd- 
ity, or would you not rather treasure it up in your 
memory as in the main excellent, though you felt 
that, like every thing human it was marred by im- 
perfection ? And why should not the same principle 
be admitted in respect to revivals ? Is it right, is it 
honest, because there may be in them a small ad- 
mixture of enthusiasm, to treat them as if they 
were made up of enthusiasm and nothing else ? 
Would it not be more equitable, would it not be 
more candid, to separate the precious from the vile, 
and to let the sentence of condemnation fall only 
where it is deserved ? 

But perhaps I shall be met here with the declara- 
tion that there are scenes which pass for revivals of 
religion, in which there is nothing but enthusiasm and 
its kindred evils ; scenes which outrage the deco- 
rum of religious worship, and exert no other influ- 
ence upon religion than to bring it into contempt. 
Be it so. If there be such scenes, whatever name 
they may assume, they are not what we plead for 
under the name of revivals ; on the contrary, every 
friend of true revivals must, if he be consistent, set 
his face against them. And I maintain further, that 



LECTURE II. 41 

it is gross injustice to the cause of revivals, to con- 
found those scenes in which there is nothing but 
the wild fire of human passion, with those in which 
there is the manifest operation of the Holy Spirit. 
Suppose you should see a man practising the ex- 
treme of avarice, and calling it by the honest name 
of economy ; or suppose you should see a man in- 
flexibly obstinate in an evil course, and calling his 
obstinacy virtuous independence ; would this justify 
you in setting at naught a habit of economy and in- 
dependence, as if a virtue could be turned into a 
vice by the misapplication of a name ? And sup- 
pose that any man, or any number of men, choose 
to yield themselves up to gross fanaticism, and to 
attempt to pass it off under the name of religion, 
or of a revival of religion, who is there that does 
not perceive that the existence of the counterfeit 
contributes in no way to debase the genuine quali- 
ty ? Prove to me that any thing that takes the name 
of a revival is really spurious, and I pledge myself 
as a friend of true revivals, to be found on the list 
of its opposers. Names are nothing. Things, facts, 
realities, are every thing. 

IV. Another objection to revivals closely allied 
to the preceding is, that the subjects of them often 
fall into a state of mental derangement^ and even com- 
mit suicide* 

The fact implied in this objection is, to a certain 
extent, acknowledged ; that is, it is acknowledged 
that instances of the kind mentioned do sometimes 
occur. But is it fair, after all, to consider revivals 

6 



42 LECTURE II. 

as responsible for them ? Every one who has any 
knowledge of the human constitution, must be aware 
that the mind is liable to derangement from any 
cause that operates in the way of great excitement ; 
and whether this effect in any given case, is to be 
produced or not, depends partly on the peculiar 
character of the mind which is the subject of the 
operation, and partly on the degree of self-control 
which the individual is enabled to exercise. Hence 
we find on the list of maniacs, and of those who 
have committed suicide, many in respect to whom 
this awful calamity is to be traced to the love of the 
world. Their plans for accumulating wealth have 
been blasted, and when they expected to be rich 
they have suddenly found themselves in poverty and 
perhaps obscurity ; and instead of sustaining them- 
selves against the shock, they have yielded to it ; 
and the consequence has been the wreck of their 
intellect, and the sacrifice of their life. You who 
are men of business well know that the case to 
which I have here referred is one of no uncommon 
occurrence ; but who of you ever thought that these 
cases reflected at all upon the fair and honorable 
pursuit of the world ? Where is the merchant who, 
on hearing that some commercial adventurer had 
become deranged in consequence of some misera- 
ble speculation, and had been found dead with a 
halter about his neck, ever said, " I will close my 
accounts and shut up my store, and abandon this 
business of buying and selling, which leads to such 
fatal results ?" Is there one of you who ever made 



LECTURE II. 43 

such an inference from such a fact ; or who ever 
relaxed at all in your worldly occupation, on the 
ground that some individuals had perverted the same 
occupation to their ruin ? Here you are careful 
enough to distinguish between the thing, and the 
abuse of it ; and why not be equally candid in re- 
spect to revivals of religion ? When you hear of 
instances of suicide in revivals, remember that such 
instances occur in other scenes of life, and other 
departments of action ; and if you are not prepared 
to make commerce, and learning, and politics, and 
virtuous attachment, responsible for this awful ca- 
lamity, because it is sometimes connected with them, 
then do not attempt to cast this responsibility upon 
religion, or revivals of religion, because here too 
individuals are sometimes left to this most fearful 
visitation. 

I have said that some such cases as the objection 
supposes occur ; but I maintain that the number 
is, by the enemies of revivals, greatly overrated. 
Twenty men may become insane, and may actually 
commit suicide from any other cause, and the fact 
will barely be noticed ; but let one come to this aw- 
ful end in consequence of religious excitement, and 
it will be blazoned upon the house top, with an air 
of melancholy boding and yet with a feeling of real 
triumph ; and many a gazette will introduce it with 
some sneering comments on religious fanaticism ; 
and the result will be that it will become a subject 
of general notoriety and conversation. In this way, 
the number of these melancholy cases comes to be 



44 LECTURE II. 

imagined much larger than it really is ; and in the 
common estimate of the opposers of revivals, it is 
no doubt multiplied many fold. 

But admitting that the number of these cases were 
as great as its enemies would represent — admit that 
in every extensive revival there were one person 
who actually became deranged, and fell a victim to 
that derangement, are you prepared to say, even 
then, upon an honest estimate of the comparative 
good and evil that is accomplished, that that revi- 
val had better not have taken place? On the one 
side, estimate fairly the evil ; and we have no wish 
to make it less than it really is. There is the pre- 
mature death of an individual ; — death in the most 
unnatural and shocking form; and fitted to harrow 
the feelings of friends to the utmost. There may 
be a temporary loss of usefulness to the world ; and 
as the case may be, a loss of counsel, and aid, and 
effort, in some of the tenderest earthly relations. 
Yet it is not certain but that the soul may be saved : 
for though, at the time the awful act is committed, 
there may be thick darkness hanging about it, and 
even the phrenzy of despair may have seized hold 
of it, yet no mortal can decide that God's Spirit 
may not after all have performed its effectual work; 
and that the soul, liberated from the body by the 
most dreadful act which man can commit, may not 
find its way to heaven, to be forever with the Lord. 
But suppose the very worst — suppose this sinner 
who falls in a fit of religious insanity, by the vio- 
lence of his own hand, to be unrenewed — why in 



LECTURE 11. 45 

this case he rushes prematurely upon the wrath of 
God; he cuts short the period of his probation; 
which, had it been protracted, he might or might 
not, have improved to the salvation of his soul. 
Look now at the other side. In the revival in 
which this unhappy case has occurred, besides the 
general quickening impulse that has been given to 
the people of God, perhaps one hundred individuals 
have had their character renovated, and their doom 
reversed. Each one of these was hastening for- 
ward perhaps to a death bed of horror, certainly to 
an eternity of wailing ; but in consequence of the 
change that has passed upon them, they can now 
anticipate the close of life with peace, and the ages 
of eternity with unutterable joy. There is no lon- 
ger any condemnation to them, because they are in 
Christ Jesus. And besides, they are prepared to 
live usefully in the world ; — each of them to glorify 
God by devoting himself, according to his ability, 
to the advancement of his cause. Now far be it 
from us to speak lightly of such a heart-rending 
event as the death of a fellow-mortal, in the circum- 
stances we have supposed; but if any will weigh 
this against the advantages of a revival, we have a 
right to weigh the advantages of a revival against 
this ; and to call upon you to decide for yourselves 
which preponderates ? Is the salvation of one hun- 
dred immortal souls (supposing that number to be 
converted) a light matter, when put into the scale 
against the premature and awful death of a single 
individual; or to suppose the very worst of the 



46 LECTURE II. 

case — his cutting short his space for repentance, 
and rushing unprepared into the presence of his 
Judge ? 

V. It is further objected against revivals, that 
they occasion a sort of religious dissipation ; leading 
men to neglect their vrorldly concerns for too many 
religious exercises; exercises too, protracted, not 
unfrequently, to an unseasonable hour. 

No doubt it is possible for men to devote them- 
selves more to social religious services than is best 
for their spiritual interests ; because a constant at- 
tendance on these services would interfere with the 
more private means of grace, which all must admit 
are of primary importance. But who are the per- 
sons by whom this objection is most frequently 
urged, and who seem to feel the weight of it most 
strongly? Are they those who actually spend most 
time in their closets, and who come forth into the 
world with their hearts deeply imbued with a reli- 
gious influence, and who perform their secular du- 
ties from the most conscientious regard to God's 
authority ? Or are they not rather those who rarely, 
if ever, retire to commune with God, and who en- 
gage in the business of life from mere selfish con- 
siderations; — who, in short, are thorough going 
worldlings ? If a multitude of religious meetings are 
to be censured on the ground of their interference 
with other duties, I submit it to you whether this 
censure comes with a better grace from him who 
performs these duties, or from him who neglects 
them? I submit it to you, whether the man who is 



LECTURE II. 47 

conscious of living in the entire neglect of religion, 
ought to be very lavish in his censures upon those 
who are yielding their thoughts to it in any w^ay, or 
to any extent? Would it not be more consistent at 
least for him to take care of the beam, before he 
troubles himself about the mote ? 

Far be it from me to deny that the evil which 
this objection contemplates does sometimes exist; — 
that men, and especially women, do neglect private 
and domestic duties for the sake of mingling con- 
tinually in social religious exercises : nevertheless, 
I am constrained to say that the objection, as it is 
directed against the mass of Christians, during a 
well regulated revival, is utterly unfounded. For I 
ask who are the persons who have ordinarily the 
best regulated families, who are most faithful to 
their children, most faithful in their closets, most 
faithful and conscientious in their relative duties, 
and even in their worldly engagements? If I may 
be permitted to answer, I should say unhesitatingly, 
they are generally the very persons, who love the 
social prayer meeting, and the meeting for Chris- 
tian instruction and exhortation ; those in short who 
are often referred to by the enemies of revivals, as 
exemplifying the evil which this objection contem- 
plates. God requires us to do every duty, whether 
secular or religious, in its right place; and this the 
Christian is bound to keep in view in all his con- 
duct. But there is too much reason to fear that 
the spirit which ordinarily objects against many re- 
ligious exercises, is a spirit, which, if the whole 



48 LECTURE II. 

truth were known, it would appear, had httle com- 
placency in any. 

But it is alleged that, during revivals, religious 
meetings are not only multiplied to an improper ex- 
tent, but are protracted to an unseasonable hour. 
That instances of this kind exist admits not of ques- 
tion; and it is equally certain that the case here 
contemplated is an evil which every sober, judicious 
Christian must discourage. We do not believe that 
in an enlightened community, it is an evil of very 
frequent occurrence ; but wherever it exists, it is to 
be reprobated as an abuse, and not to be regarded 
as any part of a genuine revival ; or as any thing 
for which a true revival is responsible. But here 
again, it may be worth while to inquire how far ma- 
ny of the individuals who offer this objection are 
consistent with themselves. They can be present 
at a political cabal, or at a convivial meeting, which 
lasts the whole night, and these occasions may be of 
very frequent occurrence, and yet it may never occur 
to them that they are keeping unseasonable hours. 
Or their children may return at the dawn of day, 
from a scene of vain amusement, in which they 
have brought on an entire prostration both of mind 
and body, and unfitted themselves for any useful ex- 
ertion during the day ; and yet all this is not only 
connived at as excusable, but smiled upon as com- 
mendable. I do not say that it is right to keep up 
a religious meeting during the hours that Providence 
has allotted to repose : I believe fully that in ordi- 
nary cases it is wrong ; but sure I am that I could 



LECTURE II. 49 

not hold up my head to say this, if I were accus- 
tomed to look with indulgence on those other scenes 
of the night of which I have spoken. It is best to 
spend the night as God designed it should be spent, 
in refreshing our faculties by sleep ; but if any other 
way is to be chosen, judge ye whether they are wis- 
est, who deprive themselves of repose in an idle 
round of diversion, or they who subject themselves 
to the same sacrifice in exercises of devotion and 
piety. 

VI. It is objected against revivals that they often 
introduce discord into families, and disturb the general 
peace of society. 

It must be conceded that rash and intemperate 
measures have sometimes been adopted in connec- 
tion with revivals, or at least what have passed un- 
der the name of revivals, which have been de- 
servedly the subject of censure, and which were 
adapted, by stirring up the worst passions of the 
heart, to introduce a spirit of fierce contention and 
discord. But I must be permitted to say that, what- 
ever evil such measures may bring in their train, is 
not to be charged upon genuine revivals of reli- 
gion. The revivals for which we plead are charac- 
terized, not by a spirit of rash and unhallowed at- 
tack on the part of their friends, which might be 
supposed to have come up from the world below, 
but by that wisdom which cometh down from above ; 
which is pure, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be en- 
treated. For all the discord and mischief that re- 
sult from measures designed to awaken opposition 

7 



^ 



LECTURE II. 



and provoke the bad passions, they only are to be 
held responsible by whom those measures are devis- 
ed or adopted. We hesitate not to say that there is 
no communion between the spirit that dictates them, 
and the spirit of true revivals. 

Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that there 
are instances, in which a revival of religion conduct- 
ed in a prudent and scriptural manner, awakens bit- 
ter hostihty, and sometimes occasions, for the time, 
much domestic unhappiness. There are cases in 
which the enmity of the heart is so deep and bitter, 
that a bare knowledge of the fact that sinners around 
are beginning to inquire, will draw forth a torrent 
of reproach and railing ; and there are cases too in 
which the fact that an individual in a family becomes 
professedly pious, will throw that family into a vio- 
lent commotion, and waken up against the individu- 
al bitter prejudices, and possibly be instrumental of 
exiling a child, or a wife, or a sister, from the af- 
fections of those most dear to them. But you surely 
will not make religion, or a revival of religion, 
responsible for cases of this kind. Did not the 
benevolent Jesus himself say that he came not to 
send peace on the earth but a sword ; — meaning 
by it this very thing — ^that in prosecuting the object 
of his mission into the world, he should necessarily 
provoke the enmity of the human heart, and thus 
that enmity would act itself out in the persecution 
of himself and his followers ? The Saviour, by his 
perfect innocence, his divine holiness, his uncom- 
promising faithfulness, provoked the Jews to imbrue 



LECTURE II. 51 

their hands in his blood ; but who ever supposed 
that the responsibihty of their murderous act rested 
upon him ? In hke manner, ministers and Chris- 
tians, by laboring for the promotion of a revival of 
religion, may be the occasion of fierce opposition to 
the cause of truth and holiness ; but if they labor 
only in the manner which God has prescribed, they 
are in no way accountable for that opposition. It 
will always be right for individuals to secure the sal- 
vation of their own souls, let it involve whatever do- 
mestic inconvenience, or whatever worldly sacrifice 
it may. And so too, it will be always right for 
Christians to labor in God's appointed way for the 
salvation of others ; though in doing so, they should 
kindle up against them the fiercest opposition. 
Where such opposition is excited, the opposers of 
religion may set it to the account of revivals ; but 
God the righteous Judge will take care that it is 
charged where it fairly belongs. 

VII. It is objected, again, to revivals that the sup- 
posed conversions that occur in them are usually too 
sudden to he genuine ; and that the excitemerit which 
prevails at such a time, mu^t be a fruitful source of self' 
deception* 

That revivals are often perverted to minister to 
self-deception cannot be questioned ; and this is al- 
ways to be expected, when there is much of human 
machinery introduced. Men often suppose them- 
selves converted, and actually pass as converts, 
merely from some impulse of the imagination, when 
they have not even been the subjects of true con- 



52 LECTURE II. 

viction. But notwithstanding this abuse, who will 
say that the Bible does not warrant us to expect sud- 
den conversions ? What say you of the three thou- 
sand who were converted on the day of pentecost ? 
Shall I be told that there was a miraculous agency 
concerned in producing that wonderful result ? I 
answer there was indeed a miracle wrought in con- 
nection with that occasion ; but there was no great- 
er miracle in the actual conversion of those sinners 
than there is in the conversion of any other sinners ; 
for conversion is in all cases the same work ; and 
accomplished by the same agency — viz. the special 
agency of the Holy Spirit. This instance then is 
entirely to our purpose ; and proves at least the 
possibility that a conversion may be sound, though 
it be sudden. 

Nor is there any thing in the nature of the case 
that should lead us to a different conclusion. For 
what is conversion ? It is a turning from sin to holi- 
ness. The truth of God is presented before the mind, 
and this truth is cordially and practically believed ; 
it is received into the understanding, and through 
that reaches the heart and life. Suppose the truth to 
be held up before the mind already awake to its im- 
portance, and in a sense prepared for its reception, 
what hinders but that it should be received immedi- 
ately ? But this would be all that is intended by a 
sudden conversion. Indeed we all admit that the 
act of conversion, whenever it takes place, is sud- 
den ; and why may not the preparation for it, in 
many instances, be so also ? Where is the absurdi- 



LECTURE II. 53 

ty of supposing that a sinner may, within a very 
short period, be brought practically to believe both 
the truth that awakens the conscience, and that 
which converts the soul ; — in other words may pass 
from a state of absolute carelessness to reconcilia- 
tion with God ? The evidence of conversion must 
indeed be gradual, and must develope itself in a sub- 
sequent course of exercises and acts; so that it 
were rash to pronounce any individual in such cir- 
cumstances a true convert ; but not only the act of 
conversion but the immediate preparation for it, may 
be sudden ; and we may reasonably hope, in any giv- 
en case of apparent conversion, that the change is 
genuine. 

I may add that the general spirit of the Bible is, 
by no means, unfavorable to sudden conversions. 
The Bible calls upon men to repent ; to believe ; to 
turn to the Lord now ; it does not direct them to put 
themselves on a course of preparation for doing 
this at some future time ; but it allows no delay ; 
it proclaims that now is the accepted time, now the 
day of salvation. When men are converted sud- 
denly, is there any thing more than an immediate 
compliance with these divine requisitions which 
are scattered throughout the Bible ? 

But what is the testimony of facts on this sub- 
ject ? It were in vain to deny that some who seem 
to be converted during the most genuine revivals 
fall away ; and it were equally vain to deny that 
some who profess to have become reconciled to God, 
when there is no revival, fall away. But that any 



54 LECTURE II. 

considerable proportion of the professed subjects of 
well regulated revivals apostatize, especially after 
having made a public profession, is a position which 
I am persuaded cannot be sustained. I know there 
are individual exceptions from this remark ; excep- 
tions which have occurred under peculiar circum- 
stances ; but if I mistake not, those ministers who 
have had the most experience on this subject, will 
testify that a very large proportion of those whom 
they have known professedly beginning the Chris- 
tian life during a revival, have held on their way 
stronger and stronger. It has even been remarked 
by a minister who has probably been more conver- 
sant vnth genuine revivals than any other of the 
age, that his experience has justified the remark, 
that there is a smaller proportion of apostacies 
among the professed subjects of revivals than among 
those who make a profession when there is no un- 
usual attention to religion. 

After all, we are willing to admit that the excite- 
ment attending a revival may be the means of self- 
deception. But we maintain that this is not, at least 
to any great extent, a necessary evil, and that it may 
ordinarily be prevented by suitable watchfulness and 
caution on the part of those who are active in con- 
ducting the work. To accomplish this requires an 
intimate knowledge of the heart, and of God's 
word, and of the whole subject of experimental re- 
ligion. But with these qualifications, whether in a 
minister or in private Christians ; and with the dili- 
gent and faithful discharge of duty, we believe that 



LECTURE II. 55 

little more is to be apprehended in respect to self- 
deception during a revival, than might reasonably 
be in ordinary circumstances. 

VIII. It is objected that revivals are followed by 
seasons of corresponding declension ; and that, there- 
fore, nothing is gained, on the whole, to the cause of 
religion. 

This remark must of course be limited in its ap- 
plication to those who were before Christians ; — 
for it surely cannot mean that those who are really 
converted during a revival, lose the principle of re- 
ligion from their hearts, after it has passed away. 
Suppose then it be admitted that Christians, on the 
whole, gain no advantage from revivals, on account 
of the reaction that takes place in their experience ; 
still there is the gain of a great number of genuine 
conversions ; and this is clear gain from the world. 
Is it not immense gain to the church, immense gain 
to the Saviour, that a multitude of souls should 
yield up their rebellion, and become the subjects of 
renewing grace ? And if this is an effect of revi- 
vals (and who can deny it ?) what becomes of the 
objection that, on the whole, they bring no gain to 
the cause ? 

But it is not true that revivals are of no advantage 
to Christians. It is confidently believed, if you 
could hear the experience of those who have labor- 
ed in them most faithfully and most successfully, 
you would learn that these were the seasons in 
which they made their brightest and largest attain- 
ments in religion. And these seasons they have not 



56 LECTURE II. 

failed subsequently to connect with special praise 
and thanksgiving to God. That there are cases in 
which Christians, during a revival, have had so 
much to do with the hearts of others, that they have 
neglected their own ; and that there is danger, from 
the very constitution of the human mind, that an 
enlivened and elevated state of Christian affections 
will be followed by spiritual languor and listlessness, 
I admit ; but I maintain that these are not necessa- 
ry evils ; and that the Christian, by suitable watch- 
fulness and effort, may avoid them. It is not in hu- 
man nature always to be in a state of strong excite- 
ment ; but it is possible for any Christian to main- 
tain habitually that spirit of deep and earnest piety, 
which a revival is so well fitted to awaken and 
cherish. 

IX. The last objection against revivals which I 
shall notice is, that they cherish the spirit of secta- 
rism, and furnish opportunities and inducements to dif- 
ferent denominations to make proselytes, 

I own, Brethren, with grief and shame for our 
common imperfections, that the evil contemplated 
in this objection frequently does occur 5 and though, 
for a time, different sects may seem to co-operate 
with each other for the advancement of the com- 
mon cause, yet they are exceedingly apt, sooner or 
later, to direct their efforts mainly to the promotion 
of their own particular cause ; and sometimes it 
must be confessed the greater has seemed to be al- 
most forgotten in the less. Wherever this state of 
things exists, it is certainly fraught with evil ; and 



LECTURE II. 57 

the only remedy to be found for it is an increased 
degree of intelligence, piety, and charity, in the 
church. 

But here again, let me remind you that, let this 
evil be as great as it may, the most that you can say 
of its connexion with revivals is, that they are the 
innocent occasion of it — not the faulty cause. Sup- 
pose an individual, or any number of individuals, 
were to take occasion from the fact that we are as- 
sembled here for religious worship, to come in, in 
violation of the laws of the land, and by boister- 
ous and menacing conduct, to disturb our public 
service ; and suppose they should find themselves 
forthwith within the walls of a jail; — the fact of 
our being here engaged in the worship of God 
might be the occasion of the evil which they had 
brought upon themselves ; but surely no man in the 
possession of his reason would dream that it was 
the responsible cause. In like manner, a revival 
may furnish an opportunity, and suggest an induce- 
ment, to different religious sects to bring as many 
into their particular communion as they can ; and 
they may sometimes do this in the exercise of an 
unhallowed party spirit ; but the evil is to be charg- 
ed, not upon the revival, but upon the imperfections 
of Christians and ministers, which have taken oc- 
casion from this state of things, thus to come into 
exercise. The revival is from above : the prose- 
lyting spirit is from beneath. 

But the fallacy of this objection may best be seen 
by a comparison of the evil complained of, with the 



58 LECTURE II. 

good that is achieved. You and I are Presbyteri- 
ans : but we profess to beheve that our neighbors 
of many of the different denominations around us, 
hold the fundamental truths of the gospel, and are 
walking in the way to heaven. As Presbyterians 
we have a right, and it is our duty to take special 
heed to the interests of our own church ; but much 
as w^e may venerate her order or her institutions, 
who among us is there that does not regard Chris- 
tian as a much more hallowed name? In other 
words, where is the man who would not consider it 
comparatively a light matter whether an individual 
should join our particular communion or some other, 
provided he gave evidence of being a real disciple of 
Christ ? Now apply this remark to revivals. The 
evil complained of is, that different sects manifest 
an undue zeal to gather as many of the hopeful sub- 
jects of revivals as they can into their respective 
communions. Suppose it be so — and what is the 
result ? Why that they are training up — not as we 
should say, perhaps, under the best form of church 
government, or possibly the most unexceptionable 
views of Christian doctrine — ^but still in the bosom 
of the church of God, under the dispensation of 
his word, and in the enjoyment of his ordinances, 
and in communion with his people — are training up 
to become members of that communion in which 
every other epithet will be merged in that of sons 
and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Place then, 
on the one side, the fact that these individuals are 
to remain in their sins, supposing there is no revi- 



LECTURE II. 59 

val of religion, and on the other, the fact that they 
are to be proselyted, if you please, to some other 
Christian sect, provided there is one ; and then tell 
me whether the objection which I am considering 
does not dwindle to nothing. I would not deem it 
uncharitable to say that the man who could main- 
tain this objection in this view, that is, the man who 
could feel more complacency in seeing his fellow 
men remain in his own denomination dead in tres- 
passes and sins, than in seeing them join other de- 
nominations giving evidence of being the followers 
of the Lord Jesus, whatever other sect he may be- 
long to, does not belong to the sect of true disci- 
ples. Whatever may be his shibboleth, rely on it, 
he has not learned to talk in the dialect of heaven. 
I have presented this subject before you, my 
friends, at considerable length, not because I have 
considered myself as addressing a congregation hos- 
tile to revivals — for I bear you testimony that it is 
not so — but because most of the objections which 
have been noticed are more or less current in the 
community, and I have wished to guard you against 
the influence of these objections on the one hand, 
and to assist you to be always ready to give an an- 
swer to any one that asketh a reason of your views 
of this subject on the other. I hope that what has 
been said may confirm your conviction that the 
cause of revivals is emphatically the Saviour's cause ; 
and that you may be disposed, each one to labor in 
it with increased diligence and zeal. And may your 
labors be characterized by such Christian prudence, 



60 LECTURE II. 

and tenderness, and fidelity, that while you shall see 
a rich blessing resting upon them, they may have a 
tendency to silence the voice of opposition, and in- 
crease the number of those who shall co-operate 
with you in sustaining and advancing this glorious 
cause. 



LECTURE III. 



OBSTACLES TO REVIVALS. 



I. Corinthians, ix. 12. 
■ — Lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ* 

It is impossible to contemplate either the life or 
writings of the Apostle Paul, without perceiving 
that the ruling passion of his renewed nature was 
a desire to glorify God in the salvation of men. — 
For the accomplishment of this end there was no 
service which he would not perform; no earthly 
comfort which he would not surrender ; no suffer- 
ing which he would not endure. A charming illustra- 
tion of his disinterestedness in the cause of his 
Master, occurs in the chapter which contains our 
text. He maintains, both from scripture and from 
general equity, the right which a minister of the gos- 
pel has to be supported by those among whom he 
labors ; and then shows how he had waived that 
right in favor of the Corinthians, that the purpose 
of his ministry might be more effectually gained. — 
" If others he partakers of this power over you,^^ says 
he, that is, " if it is the privilege of ministers in ge- 
neral to receive their support from those for whose 



62 LECTURE III. 

benefit they labor, are not we rather entitled to this 
privilege — we who have been instrumental not on- 
ly of instructing and comforting you, but of leading 
you to the profession of Christianity ? Nevertheless 
we have not used this power ^ hut suffer all things^ lest 
we should hinder the gospel of Christ : we cheerful- 
ly submit to many inconveniences and deprivations, 
that our success in winning souls to Christ through 
the gospel, may not be in any degree hindered by 
the cavils of those who are always on the alert to 
misrepresent and censure us." 

The text takes for granted that there may exist 
certain hindrances to the influence of the gospel. 
As every genuine revival of religion is eflfected 
through the instrumentality of the gospel, it will be 
no misapplication of the passage to consider it as 
suggesting some of the obstacles which often ex- 
ist in the way of a revival ; and in this manner I 
purpose to consider it at the present time. 

What then are some of the most common hin- 
drances to a scriptural revival of religion ? 

I. Ignorance or misapprehension of the nature of 
true revivals. 

It is not to be concealed or denied that much has 
passed at various periods under the name of revi- 
vals, which a sound and intelligent piety could not 
fail to reprobate. There have been scenes in which 
the decorum due to christian worship has been en- 
tirely forgotten ; in which the fervor of passion has 
been mistaken for the fervor of piety ; in which the 
awful name of God has been invoked not only with 



LECTURE III. 63 

irreverence but with disgusting familiarity ; in which 
scores and even hundreds have mingled together in 
a revel of fanaticism. Now unhappily there are 
those, and I doubt not good men too, who have 
formed their opinion of revivals from these most 
unfavorable specimens. These perhaps, and no 
others, may have fallen under their observation ; 
and hence they conclude that whatever is reported 
to them under the name of a revival, partakes of the 
same general character with what they have wit- 
nessed ; and hence too they look with suspicion on 
any rising religious excitement, lest it should run 
beyond bounds, and terminate in a scene of reli- 
gious phrenzy. 

There are others, (I here speak particularly of 
ministers of the gospel — for their influence is of 
course most extensively felt on this subject) who 
are led to look with distrust on revivals, merely 
from constitutional temperament, or from habits of 
education, or from the peculiar character of their 
own religious experience ; and while they are hearty 
well wishers to the cause of Christ, they are per- 
haps too sensitive to the least appearance of ani- 
mal feeling. Besides, they not improbably have 
never witnessed a revival, and as the case may be, 
have been placed in circumstances least favorable 
to understanding its nature or appreciating its im- 
portance. What is true of one individual in this 
case, may be true of many; and if the person 
concerned be a minister of the gospel, or even a 
very efficient and influential layman, he may contri- 



64 LECTURE III. 

bute in no small degree to form the opinion that 
prevails on this subject through a congregation, or 
even a more extensive community. 

Now you will readily perceive that such a state 
of things as I have here supposed, must constitute 
a serious obstacle to the introduction of a revival. 
There are cases indeed in which God is pleased to 
glorify his sovereignty, by marvellously pouring 
down his Spirit for the awakening and conversion 
of sinners, where there is no special effort on the 
part of his people to obtain such a blessing; but it 
is the common order of his providence to lead them 
earnestly to desire, and diligently to seek, the bless- 
ing, before he bestows it. But if, instead of seeking 
these special effusions of divine grace, they have 
an unreasonable dread of the excitement by which 
such a scene may be attended ; if the apprehension 
that God may be dishonored by irreverence and 
confusion, should lead them unintentionally to check 
the genuine aspirations of pious zeal, or even the 
workings of religious anxiety, there is certainly little 
reason to expect in such circumstances a revival of 
religion. I doubt not that a case precisely such as 
I have supposed has sometimes existed; and that an 
honest, but inexcusably ignorant conscience on the 
part of a minister or of a church, has prevailed to 
prevent a gracious visit from the Spirit of God. 

II. Another obstacle to a revival of religion is 
found in a spirit of worldliness among professed chris- 
tians. The evil to which I here refer assumes a 
great variety of forms, according to the ruling pas- 



LECTURE III. 65 

sion of each individual, and the circumstances in 
which he may be placed. There are some of the 
professed disciples of Christ, who seem to think of 
little else than the acquisition of wealth ; who are 
not only actively engaged, as they have a right to 
be, to increase their worldly possessions, but who 
seem to allow all their affections to be engrossed 
by the pursuit; who are willing to rise up early, 
and sit up late, and eat the bread of carefulness, to 
become rich ; and whose wealth, after it is acquired, 
serves only to gratify a spirit of avarice, or possi- 
bly a passion for splendor, but never ministers to 
the cause of charity. There is another class of 
professors whose hearts are set upon worldly pro- 
motion ; who seem to act as if the ultimate object 
were to reach some high post of honor; who often 
yield to a spirit of unhallowed rivalry, and some- 
times employ means to accomplish their purposes 
which christian integrity scarcely knows how to 
sanction. And there is another class still, not less 
numerous than either of the preceding, who must be 
set down in a modified sense at least, as the lovers 
of pleasure : far enough are they from encouraging 
or tolerating any thing gross or offensive to a culti- 
vated worldly taste ; but they mingle unhesitatingly 
in scenes of amusement, from which they know be- 
fore hand that every thing connected with religion 
must be excluded ; and they talk afterwards with 
enthusiasm of the enjoyment they have experienced 
in such scenes ; and if the consistency of their 
mingling in them with christian obligations happens 

9 



66 LECTURE III. 

to be called in question, not improbably they will 
defend themselves with spirit against what they are 
pleased to call a whimsical or superstitious preju- 
dice. There are professors of religion among those 
who take the lead in fashionable life : they seem to 
breathe freely only when they are in circles of gai- 
ety; and if they were taken out of the ranks of plea- 
sure, the language of their hearts, if not of their 
lips, would doubtless be, "ye have taken away my 
gods, and what have I more ?" I am willing to hope 
that the number to whom this can apply, in all its 
extent, is, at this day, comparatively small — certain- 
ly it is becoming smaller; but there are many who 
are ready to make a pptrtial compromise with con- 
science on this subject ; and who, in keeping aloof 
from the extreme of too great strictness, slide too 
near, to say the least, to the confines of the oppo- 
site error. All these different classes, if their con- 
duct is a fair basis for an opinion, have the world, 
in some form or other, uppermost. They are quite 
absorbed with the things which are seen and are 
temporal. Their conversation is not in heaven. It 
breathes not the spirit of heaven. It does not re- 
late to the enjoyments of heaven, or the means of 
reaching those enjoyments. The world take know- 
ledge of them, not that they have been with Jesus, 
but that like themselves, they love to grovel amidst 
the things below. 

That the evil which I have here described exist- 
ing in a church, must be a formidable obstacle to a 
revival of religion, none of us probably will doubt. 
Let us see for a moment, how it is so. 



LECTURE III. 67 

The individuals concerned constitute the church, 
or a portion of the church — the very body in 
which, according to the common course of God's 
providence, we are to expect a revival to begin. — 
But the prevalence of this worldly spirit of which 
I have spoken, is the very opposite of the spirit 
of a revival ; and can have no more communion 
with it than light with darkness. So long as it ex- 
ists then, it must keep out that general spirituality 
and active devotedness to the cause of Christ in 
which a revival, as it respects Christians, especially 
consists ; and of course must prevent all that good 
influence, which a revival in the church would be 
fitted to exert upon the world. 

But suppose there be in the church those who are 
actually revived, and who have a right estimate of 
their obligations to labor and pray for the special , 
effusion of divine influences, how manifest is it that 
this spirit of worldliness must, to a great extent, 
paralyze their efforts ? How painfully discouraging 
to them must it be, to behold those who have 
pledged themselves to co-operate with them in the 
great cause, turning away to the world, and virtu- 
ally giving their sanction to courses of conduct 
directly adapted to thwart their benevolent efforts ! 
And how naturally will careless sinners, when they 
are pressed by the tender and earnest expostula- 
tions of the faithful to ffee from the wrath to come, 
shelter themselves in the reflection that there is an- 
other class of professors who estimate this matter 
diflferently, and whose whole conduct proclaims that 



68 LECTURE III. 

they consider all this talk about religion as unne- 
cessary — not to say fanatical. I know that a few 
Christians, have, in some instances, been enabled 
by God's special blessing, to stem such a current 
as this ; and have been permitted to witness the 
most glorious results from their persevering labors ; 
but I know too that nothing is more disheartening to 
a few devoted disciples of Christ — nothing more di- 
rectly fitted to render their exertions of no effect, 
than for the mass of professors around them to be 
buried up in the world ; to be found with them at 
the communion table commemorating the death of 
Christ, but never to go with them in any effort for 
the advancement of his cause. 

But while this spirit of worldliness mocks in a 
great degree the efforts of the faithful, it exerts a di- 
rect and most powerful influence upon those who are 
glad to find apologies to quiet themselves in sin. 
I know that it is a miserable fallacy that the incon- 
sistent lives of professed christians constitute any 
just ground of reproach against the gospel ; never- 
theless, it is a fact of which no one can be igno- 
rant, that there are multitudes who look at the gos- 
pel only as it is reflected in the character of its pro- 
fessors ; and especially in their imperfections and 
backslidings. These are all strangely looked at, 
as if religion were responsible for them ; and whe- 
ther it be a particular act of gross transgression, or 
a general course of devotedness to the world, it 
will be almost sure to be turned to account in sup- 
port of the comfortable doctrine that religion does 



LECTURE III. 69 

not make men the better, and therefore it is safe to 
let it alone altogether : or else it is inferred that, if 
religion be any thing, it may be safely delayed ; for 
it is so small a matter that it may be taken up at 
any time : or possibly the individual referring his 
own character to the low standard which he may 
observe among professors, may charitably conclude 
that he is already a Christian ; and thus by playing 
off upon himself the arts of self-deception, may lull 
himself into a lethargy, out of which he will never 
awake, until he is roused by the light of eternity 
both to conviction and despair. None surely will 
question that whatever exerts such an influence as 
this on the careless and ungodly, must constitute a 
powerful barrier to a revival of religion. 

But this worldly spirit is to be looked at moreover 
in the relation which it bears to the Spirit of God ; 
for God's Spirit, let it always be remembered, is the 
grand agent in every revival. What then do pro- 
fessing Christians virtually say to the Holy Spirit, 
when they lose sight of their obligations, and open 
their hearts and their arms to the objects and inte- 
rests of the world ? Do they thereby invite him to 
come, and be with them, and dwell with them, and 
to diffuse his convincing and converting influences 
all around ? Or do they not rather proclaim their 
indifference, to say the least, to his gracious ope- 
rations ; and sometimes even virtually beseech him 
to depart out of their coasts ? But it is the manner 
of our God to bestow his Spirit in unison with the 
desires and in answer to the prayers of his people — 



70 LECTURE III. 

can we suppose then, that where the spirit of the 
world has taken the place of the spirit of prayer, 
and the enjoyments of the world are more thought 
of than the operations of the Holy Ghost — can we 
suppose, I say, that He who is jealous of his honor, 
will send down those gracious influences which are 
essential to a revival of religion ? 

Whether, therefore, we consider a worldly spirit 
among professed Christians, in its relation to them- 
selves, to their fellow professors who are faithful, to 
the careless world, or to the Spirit of God, we can- 
not fail to perceive that it must stand greatly in the 
way of the blessing we are contemplating. 

ni. The want of a proper sense of personal responsi- 
hility among prof essed Christians, constitutes another 
obstacle to a revival of religion. You all know how 
essential it is to the success of any worldly enter- 
prize, that those who engage in it should feel person- 
ally responsible in respect to its results. Bring to- 
gether a body of men for the accomplishment of 
any object, no matter how important, and there is 
always danger that personal obligation will be lost 
sight of; that each individual will find it far easier 
to do nothing, or even to do wrong, than if, instead 
of dividing the responsibility with many, he was 
obliged literally to bear his own burden. And just 
in proportion as this spirit pervades any public body, 
it may reasonably be expected either that they will 
accomplish nothing, or nothing to any good pur- 
pose. 



LECTURE III. 71 

Now let this same spirit pervade a church, or any 
community of professed Christians, and you can 
look for nothing better than a similar result. True 
it is, as we have already had occasion to remark, 
that, in a revival of religion, there is much of di- 
vine agency and of divine sovereignty too ; but 
there is human instrumentality also ; and much of 
what God does is done through his people ; and if 
they remain with their arms folded, it were unrea- 
sonable to expect that God's work should be revived. 
Let each professor regard his own personal respon- 
sibility as merged in the general responsibility of 
the church, and the certain consequence will be that 
the church as a body will accomplish nothing. 
Each member may be ready to deplore the preva- 
lence of irreligion and spiritual lethargy, and to ac- 
knowledge that something ought to be done in the 
way of reform ; but if, at the same time, he cast 
his eye around upon his fellow professors, and re- 
flect that there are many to share with him the re- 
sponsibility of inaction, and that, as his individual 
exertions could effect but little, so his individual 
neglect would incur but a small proportion of the 
whole blame — if he reason in this way, I say, to 
what purpose will be all his acknowledgments and 
all his lamentations ? In order that God's work may 
be revived, there must be earnest prayer ; but where 
is the pledge for this, unless his people realize their 
individual obligations? There must also be dili- 
gent, and persevering, and self-denied effort ; but 
where are the persons who are ready for this, pro- 



72 LECTURE III. 

vided each one feels that he has no pei^sonal respon- 
sibihty ? Who will warn the wicked of his wicked 
way, and exhort him to turn and live ? Who will 
stretch out his hand to reclaim the wandering Chris- 
tian, or open his lips to stir up the sluggish one ? 
Who, in short, will do any thing that God requires 
to be done in order to the revival of his work, if the 
responsibility of the whole church is not regarded 
as the responsibility of the several individuals who 
compose it ? Wherever you see a church in which 
this mistaken view of obligation generally prevails, 
you may expect to see that church asleep ; and sin- 
ners around asleep ; and you need not look for the 
breaking up of that slumber, until Christians have 
come to be weighed down under a sense of person- 
al obligation. 

Moreover, let it be remembered that the evil of 
which I am speaking, is fitted to prevent the revival 
of God's work, inasmuch as it has within itself all 
the elements of a grievous backsliding. Wherever 
you find professors of religion who have little or 
no sense of their own obligations apart from the 
general responsibility of the church, there you may 
look with confidence for that wretched inconsisten- 
cy, that careless and unedifying deportment that is 
fitted to arm sinners with a plea against the claims 
of religion, which they are always sure to use to 
the best advantage. And on the other hand, wher- 
ever you see professing Christians realizing that ar- 
duous duties devolve upon them as individuals, and 
that the indifference of others can be no apology 



LECTURE III. 73 

for their own, there you will see a spirit of self- 
denial, and humility, and active devotedness to the 
service of Christ, which will be a most impressive 
exemplification of the excellence of the gospel, and 
which will be fitted at once to awaken sinners to a 
conviction of its importance, and to attract them to 
a compliance with its conditions. In short, you 
will see precisely that kind of agency on the part of 
Christians which is most likely to lead to a revival, 
whether you consider it as bearing directly on the 
minds of sinners, or as securing the influence of the 
Spirit of God. 

IV. The toleration of gross offences in the churchy 
is another serious hindrance to a revival of religion. 
We cannot suppose that the Saviour expected that 
the visible church on earth would ever be entirely 
pure ; or that there would not be in it those who 
were destitute of every scriptural qualification for 
its communion ; or even those whose lives would 
be a constant contradiction of their profession, and 
a standing reproach upon his cause. He himself 
hath said that "it must needs be that oflfences 
come ;" though he has added with awful emphasis, 
" wo unto that man by whom they come." And the 
whole tenor of God's word goes to show that it is 
required of the church — of the whole body, and of 
each particular member — that they keep themselves 
unspotted from the world ; that they have no fellow- 
ship with the unfruitful works of darkness ; that 
they exhibit, in all respects, that character which 
becomes " a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, 

10 



74 LECTURE III. 

an holy nation, a peculiar people." And inasmuch 
as there was danger from the imperfection and de- 
pravity of man, that the church would embody a 
greater or less amount of hypocrisy and corruption, 
it pleased the great Master to prescribe rules for the 
maintenance of her purity. Hence Christians are 
exhorted to stir up one another by putting each other 
in remembrance ; to reprove and admonish each 
other with fidelity as occasion may require ; and in 
case of scandalous offences persisted in or not re- 
pented of, the church as a body is bound to cut off 
the offender from her communion. In performing 
this last and highest act of discipline, as well as in 
all the steps by which she is led to it, she acts, not 
according to any arbitrary rules of her own, but un- 
der the authority, and agreeably to the directions 
of her Head. 

Now it is impossible to look at the state of many 
churches, without perceiving that there is a sad dis- 
regard to the directions of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
in respect to offending members. It sometimes 
happens that professors of religion are detected in 
grossly fraudulent transactions ; that they grind the 
face of the widow and orphan ; that they take upon 
their lips the language of cursing, and even profanely 
use the awful name of God ; not to speak of what has 
been more common in other days — their reeling un- 
der the influence of the intoxicating draught — I say it 
sometimes happens that Christian professors exem- 
plify some or other of these vices, and still retain a 
regular standing in the church, and perhaps never 



LECTURE III. 75 

even hear the voice of reproof; especially if the in- 
dividuals concerned happen to possess great world- 
ly influence, and the church, as it respects tempo- 
ral interests, is in some measure dependent upon 
them. But rely on it, Brethren, this is an evil 
which is fitted to reach vitally the spiritual inter- 
ests of the church ; and wherever it exists, it will 
in all probability constitute an effectual obstacle to 
a revival of religion. 

For its influence will be felt, in the first place, by 
the church itself. The fact that it can tolerate gross 
offences in its members, proves that its character 
for spirituality is already low ; but the act of tolera- 
ting them must necessarily serve to depress it still 
more. It results from our very constitution and 
from the laws of habit, that to be conversant with 
open vice, especially where there is any temptation 
to apologize for it, is fitted to lessen our estimate 
of its odiousness, and to impair our sense of moral 
and Christian obligation. If a church tolerates in 
its members scandalous sins, it must know as a body 
that it is in the wrong ; nevertheless each individual 
will reconcile it to his own conscience as well as he 
can ; and one way will be by endeavoring to find 
out extenuating circumstances, and possibly to lower 
a little the standard of Christian character. Thus 
it will almost of course come to pass, that that deep 
and awful sense of the evil of sin which the Chris- 
tian ought always to cultivate, and which is essen- 
tial to a high degree of spirituality, will no longer 
be found ; and in place of it there will be, if not 



76 LECTURE III. 

an exhibition of open vice, yet a disposition to re- 
gard iniquity in the heart, and a readiness to par- 
take of other men's sins. 

Besides, the neglect of one duty always renders 
the neglect of others more easy ; not merely from 
the fact that there is an intimate connection between 
many of the duties which devolve upon Christians, 
but because every known deviation from the path of 
rectitude has a tendency to lower the tone of reli- 
gious sensibility, and to give strength to the general 
propensity to evil. Let the members of a church 
do wrong in the particular of which I am speaking, 
and it will make it more easy for them to do wrong 
in other particulars. A disregard to their covenant 
obligations in this respect, will render them less sen- 
sible of the solemnity and weight of their obliga- 
gations generally : in short it will lead by almost 
certain consequence to that state of things, which 
is characterized by spiritual insensibility and death, 
and which is the exact opposite of all that belongs 
to a revival of religion. 

But the evil to which I refer is not less to be de- 
precated in its direct influence upon the world, than 
upon the church. For here is presented a profess- 
ing Christian, not only practising vices, which, it 
may be, would scarcely be tolerated in those who 
were professedly mere worldly men, but practising 
these vices, for aught that appears, under the sanc- 
tion of the church. Wherever this flagrant incon- 
sistency is exhibited, the scoffer looks on and 
laughs us to scorn. The decent man of the world 



LECTURE III. 77 

concludes, that if the church can tolerate such gross 
evils, whatever other light she may diffuse around 
her, it cannot be the light of evangelical purity. 
And even those who feel the weight of Christian 
obligation, and who desire to join in the commemo- 
ration of the Redeemer's death, will sometimes hesi- 
tate whether they can become members of a com- 
munity in which the solemn vows of God are so 
much disregarded. Need I say that there is every 
thing here to lead sinners to sleep on in carnal se- 
curity to their dying day? 

But observe still farther, that this neglect to puri- 
fy the church of scandalous offences, is an act of 
gross disobedience to her Head; to him who has 
purchased for her all good gifts ; and whose prero- 
gative it is to dispense the influences of the Spirit. 
Suppose ye then that he will sanction a virtual con- 
tempt of his authority by pouring down the bless- 
ings of his grace ? Suppose ye that, if a church set 
at naught the rules which he has prescribed, and 
not only suffer sin, but the grossest sin, in her mem- 
bers, to go unreproved, he will crown all this dis- 
honor done to his word, all this inconsistency and 
flagrant covenant-breaking, with a revival of reli- 
gion? No, Brethren, this is not the manner of Him 
who rules King in Zion. He never loses sight of 
the infallible directory, which he has given to his 
church ; and if any portion of his church lose sight 
of it, it is at the peril of his displeasure. Disobe- 
dience to his commandments may be expected al- 
ways to incur his frown; and that frown will be 



78 LECTURE III. 

manifested at least by withholding the influences of 
his grace. 

V. Another powerful hindrance to a revival of 
religion, is found in the absence of a spirit of brother- 
ly love among the prof essed followers of Christ, 

Christianity never shines forth with more attrac- 
tive loveliness, or addresses itself to the heart with 
more subduing energy, than when it is seen binding 
the disciples of Jesus together in the endearing 
bonds of a sanctified friendship. Let it be said of 
Christians as it was in other days, " Behold how 
they love one another ;" let them evince a strong 
regard to each other's interests, and a tender sym- 
pathy in each other's wo, and a ready condescen- 
sion to each other's infirmities, and a willingness to 
bear each other's burdens; and, rely on it, this 
kindly spirit will diffuse a grateful influence all 
around ; and even the enemies of religion will not 
be able to withhold from it at least the homage of 
their respect and approbation; and there is good 
reason to hope that it may be instrumental of sub- 
duing many to the obedience of the truth. But on 
the other hand, let the professed followers of the 
Saviour manifest towards each other a jealous or 
contentious spirit ; let them appear more intent on 
the advancement of their own personal, or selfish, 
or party ends, than upon the promotion of each 
other's edification and benefit ; and those who see 
them, instead of taking knowledge of them that they 
have been with Jesus, will take knowledge of them 
that they have imbibed the very spirit of the world. 



LECTURE III. 79 

The influence of such an example upon the careless, 
must be to lower their estimate of the importance 
of religion, and furnish them an excuse for neglect- 
ing to seek an interest in it. Oh how often has it 
been said by infidels and the enemies of godhness, 
to the reproach of the cause of Christ, that when 
Christians would leave off contending with each 
other, it would be time enough for them to think of 
embracing their religion ! 

But the want of brotherly love operates to pre- 
vent a revival of religion, still farther, as it prevents 
that union of Christian energy, in connection with 
which God ordinarily dispenses his gracious influ- 
ences. It prevents a union of counsel. As the 
Saviour has committed his cause in a sense into the 
hands of his people, so he has left much as respects 
the advancement of it, to their discretion. And 
they are bound 'to consult together with reference 
to this end ; and to bring their concentrated wis- 
dom to its promotion. But if there be a spirit of 
alienation and discord among them, either they will 
never come together at all, or else their counsels 
will be divided, and they will do little else than de- 
feat each other's purposes. The same spirit will 
prevent a union in prayer. This is the grand means 
by which men prevail with God ; and the prospect 
of their success is always much in proportion to the 
strength of their mutual Christian aflection ; — for 
this is a Christian grace ; and if it is in lively exer- 
cise, other Christian graces which are more imme- 
diately brought into exercise in prayer, such as faith 



80 LECTURE III. 

repentance and humility, will not be asleep : and as 
concentrated effort is the most powerful in all other 
cases, so it is in this — let the united prayers of ma- 
ny hearts go up to heaven for the revival of God's 
work, and they may be expected to exert an influence 
which will tefl gloriously on the destinies perhaps 
of many sinners. But on the other hand, if there 
be not this feeling of brotherly kindness among pro- 
fessed Christians, even if they come together to 
pray for the out-pouring of the Spirit, their prayers 
will at best be feeble and inefficient, and their 
thoughts will not improbably be wandering, and un- 
christian feelings towards each other kindling, at 
the very time they are professedly interceding for 
the salvation of sinners. And the same spirit is 
equally inconsistent with a union of Christian effort; 
for if they cannot take counsel together, if they 
cannot pray together, they surely cannot act to- 
gether. Who does not perceive that a spirit of 
mutual unkindness among the professed followers 
of Christ, thus carried out into action, must, if any 
thing, oppose a powerful obstacle to the revival of 
God's work ? 

But suppose some whom you should regard as 
Christians should adopt measures in relation to re- 
vivals, unauthorized by God's word, and to say the 
least, of very doubtful tendency, and you should 
dechne to co-operate in such measures, and your 
conduct in this respect should be considered as 
evincing the want of brotherly love — where, in this 
case, would the blame really rest ? Most unques- 



LECTURE III. 81 

tionably not on you, but on those who accused you. 
There is nothing in the obligation of good will which 
Christians owe to each other, to set aside the para- 
mount obligation which they owe to their Master, 
to take his word as the rule of their practice. What- 
ever you conscientiously believe to be unscriptural, 
you are bound to decline at any hazard ; and if 
you do it kindly, (no matter how firmly) and the 
charge of being wanting in brotherly love is pre- 
ferred against you, you have a right to repel it as 
an unchristian accusation. If, in such a case, evil 
result from the want of concentrated action, and the 
measures adopted are really unscriptural, the re- 
sponsibility rests upon those who, by the adoption 
of such measures, (however honestly they may do 
it) compel you to stand aloof from them. You may 
indeed, in other ways, give evidence of not possess- 
ing the right spirit towards them ; and it becomes 
you to take heed that you do not give such evidence ; 
but the mere fact of refusing your co-operation cer- 
tainly does not constitute it. And it would be well 
if they should inquire whether they are not at as 
great a distance from you as you are from them ; 
and whether their departure from you does not in- 
dicate as great a want of brotherly love as is indi- 
cated by the fact of your refusing to follow them ? 
But it may be asked whether a spirit of brotherly 
love may not exist between Christians whose views 
on points not fundamental may differ ? I answer, 
yes undoubtedly ; it may and ought to exist among 
all who trust in a common Saviour. We may ex- 
11 



82 LECTURE III. 

ercise this spirit even towards those whom we re- 
gard as holding errors, either of faith or practice, 
provided we can discover in them the faintest 
outhne of the image of Christ. They may adopt 
opinions in which we cannot harmonize, and mea- 
sures in which we cannot co-operate, and the con- 
sequence of this may be a loss of good influence to 
the cause of Christ, and perhaps positive evil re- 
sulting from disunion in effort; nevertheless we 
may still recognize them as Christians, and love 
them as Christians, and cordially co-operate with 
them, wherever our views and theirs may be in har- 
mony. The right spirit among Christians would 
lead them to make as little of their points of dif- 
ference, and as much of their common ground, as 
they can ; and where they must separate, to do it 
with kindness and good will, not with bitterness and 
railing. 

I must not dismiss this article without saying that 
the Spirit of God who is active in awakening 
and renewing sinners, is the Spirit of peace ; he 
dwells not in scenes of contention ; and we cannot 
reasonably expect his presence or agency, where 
Christians, instead of being fellow workers togeth- 
er unto the kingdom of God, are alienated from 
each other, and sell themselves to the service of a 
party. In accordance with this sentiment, it has 
often been found in actual experience that the Spi- 
rit of God has fled before the spirit of strife; and 
a revival of religion which promised a glorious re- 
sult, has been suddenly arrested by some unimpor- 



LECTURE III. 83 

tant circumstance, which the imperfections of good 
men have magnified, till they have made it an occa- 
sion of controversy. While they are yet scarcely 
aware of it, their thoughts which had been engross- 
ed by the salvation of their fellow men and the in- 
terests of Christ's kingdom, are intensely fastened 
upon another object ; and they wake up, when it is 
too late, to the appalling fact, that the work of grace 
among them has declined, and that sinners around 
are sinking back into the deep slumber of spiritual 
death. 

VI. The last hindrance to a revival which I shall 
notice, is an erroneous or defective exhibition of Chris- 
tian truth. 

As it is through the instrumentality of the truth 
that God performs his work upon the hearts of men, 
it is fair to conclude that just in proportion as any 
part of it is kept back, or is dispensed in a different 
manner from that which he has prescribed, it will 
fail of its legitimate effect. It is not at the option 
of God's ministers to select one truth from the Bible 
and omit another ; but they are required to preach 
the whole counsel of God ; and where they neglect 
to do this, it were unreasonable to expect a blessing. 
In the exercise of their own judgment on this sub- 
ject, they may come to the conclusion that particu- 
lar parts of divine truth are of little importance ; 
and that even some of the peculiar doctrines of the 
gospel may well enough be lightly passed over ; but 
this is an insult to the author of the Bible which 



84 LECTURE III. 

they have good reason to expect he will punish by 
sending them a barren ministry. 

There is a way of preaching certain doctrines 
out of their proper connection, which is exceedingly 
unfriendly to revivals of religion. Suppose, for in- 
stance, the doctrine of God's sovereignty be exhi- 
bited in such a partial or insulated manner as to 
leave the sinner to infer that it is but another name 
for tyranny ; — or suppose the doctrine of a divine 
influence be preached in such a way as to autho- 
rize the inference that man has nothing to do in re- 
spect to his salvation, but wait to be operated upon 
like a mere machine ; or suppose the doctrine of 
man's apostacy be so exhibited as to lead sinners 
to deny their responsibility for their transgressions, 
and to take refuge from the accusations of conscience 
in the relation which they bear to the father of our 
race ; — in either of these cases, there is little proba- 
bility that they will be converted or even awakened. 
It is natural for them to find excuses for remaining 
in a state of sinful security as long as they can ; 
and so long as they are furnished with such excuses 
as these, and by the ministers of the gospel, there 
is not the least ground for expecting that their con- 
sciences will be disturbed. The evil to which I re- 
fer, has, I have no doubt, often existed in all its ex- 
tent, where the minister has actually believed all 
the truths of God's word ; and yet he has exhibited 
some in such a manner as to neutralize the power 
of others, and even to prevent the legitimate effect 
of those he has attempted to enforce. 



LECTURE III. 85 

There is also an unnatural mixing up of human 
wisdom with God's word, which, so far as it has 
any effect, must be unfriendly to the influence of di- 
vine truth. Let the naked sword of the Spirit be 
brought home to the consciences of men, and the 
effect of it must and will be felt, and the anxious in- 
quiry will be heard, and sinners, in all probability, 
will be renewed. But let the wire-drawn theories 
of metaphysicians be substituted in place of the 
simple truth; or even let the genuine doctrines of the 
gospel be customarily exhibited in connection with 
the refined speculations of human philosophy ; and 
though I dare not say that God in his sovereignty 
may not bless the truth which is actually preached, 
yet I may say with confidence that but little effect 
can be reasonably expected from such a dispensa- 
tion of the word. And the reasons are obvious ; 
for God has promised to bless nothing but his own 
truth ; and the refinements of philosophy are to the 
mass of hearers quite unintelligible. 

I may add that a want of directness in the man- 
ner of preaching the gospel, may prevent it from 
taking effect on the consciences and hearts of men. 
It is only when men are made to feel that the gos- 
pel comes home to their individual case, that they 
are themselves the sinners whom it describes, and 
that they need the blessings which it offers, — it is 
only then, I say, that they hear it to any important 
purpose. Suppose that its doctrines, instead of being 
exhibited in their practical bearings, and enforced 
by strong appeals to the conscience, are discussed 



86 LECTURE III. 

merely as abstract propositions, and with no direct 
application, the consequence will be that, though 
the great truths of the Bible may be presented be- 
fore the mind, yet they will rarely, if ever, sink in- 
to the heart. Sinners will hear them, and instead 
of realizing that they involve their immortal inte- 
rests, will probably be as indifferent, as if they were 
matters of idle speculation. So it has been in a 
multitude of instances ; and so, from the very na- 
ture of man, it must continue to be. 

I might mention also, as another important hin- 
drance to a revival, the want of a simple depen- 
dence on God; but as this will come up in another 
form in a subsequent discourse, I shall waive, for 
the present, a distinct consideration of it. 

In closing this view which we have taken of the 
obstacles to a revival of religion, I know not, my 
Christian Brethren, how we can use the subject in 
a single word, to better purpose, than to gather from 
it a deeper impression of our own responsibility. — 
Christians, ye who profess to desire a revival of re- 
ligion, and to make this a commanding subject of 
your prayers, let me ask whether, in view of what 
you have now heard, you have no reason to fear 
that you may yourselves be standing in the way of 
the bestowment of the very blessing for which you 
profess to plead. The great obstacles to the revi- 
val of God's work are no doubt to be sought in the 
church : what these obstacles are, at least some of 
the more prominent of them, you have now heard ; 
and I appeal to each of your consciences, as in the 



LECTURE III. 87 

presence of the Searcher of the heart, whether the 
guilt of hindering God's work, in some or other of 
these ways, does not he at your door? Wherefore 
is it that the Holy Spirit is not now as manifest- 
ly in the midst of us, by his awakening and con- 
verting influences, as he has been in other days ? 
Is it not because you have relapsed in some mea- 
sure into a habit of worldliness; or because you 
value the blessing less ; or because you are less uni- 
ted and vigorous in your efforts to obtain it ? Or is 
it for any other of the reasons which have now been 
spread before you ? Christians, awake, one and all, 
to a deeper sense of your responsibility. Let it not 
be told in heaven that God's people on earth are 
opposing obstacles to the salvation of perishing 
men. In doing this, ye parents, ye maybe keeping 
your own children out of heaven. In doing this, 
ye who have unconverted friends sustaining to you 
the tenderest earthly relations, you may be assist- 
ing to fix their doom in wo forever. In doing this, 
ye Christians of every class and of every condition, 
you are opposing the interests of God's holy king- 
dom, opposing the design of the Saviour's death, op- 
posing the salvation of immortal souls. But you 
cannot do this, and think what you are doing. It 
must be that you are acting incautiously. Awake 
then to solemn reflection. Awake to earnest pray- 
er. Awake to faithful and persevering action. — 
Else there may be sinners who will greet you at the 
last day, as the stumbling blocks over which they 
fell into eternal perdition. 



LECTURE IV. 



DIVINE AGENCY IN REVIVALS. 



Habakkuk hi. 2. 
Lord, revive thy work. 

There are few, if any, who acknowledge the ex- 
istence of a God, but will be ready to admit that 
he has some kind of agency in the government of 
the world. What the precise nature or extent of 
this agency is, however, it were rash even to at- 
tempt to determine. Part of it is direct ; but much 
the greater part of it, at least so far as we are con- 
cerned, is mediate ; and it is not easy for us accu- 
rately to draw the line between the one and the oth- 
er. Besides, he has created a vast multitude of 
agents, and moral agents ; but though he has given 
them the power of action, he has not made them 
independent beings ; though they act with perfect 
freedom, yet he acts in them and by them. Is not 
every man in this respect a mystery to himself? 
Who will venture to determine, in reference to his 
own conduct, precisely the measure of influence that 
is exerted upon him by that Almighty agent, in whom 

12 



90 LECTURE IV. 

are all the Bprings, not only of physical, but intel- 
lectual and moral being ? 

As it is admitted by all except the downright athe- 
ist that God has some kind of agency in the gov- 
ernment of the world, while yet there is much in 
respect to the nature and extent of that agency 
which we cannot understand, so also it is admitted 
by all Christians that he exerts an influence in the 
sanctification of men, though they do not pretend 
exactly to define the character of that influence. 
On the same general principle, those who believe in 
revivals of religion, believe that God is the grand 
agent in producing them; though they are well 
aware that here, as in other departments of his 
agency, he " moves in a mysterious way ;" and that 
this is no field for a roving fancy or rash specula- 
tion. Something however may be known on this 
subject from God's word ; and on a matter of such 
deep and awful concern, while we are to take heed 
that we keep fairly within our own province, it surely 
becomes us to gather up with devout attention even 
the most obscure of the divine intimations. I de- 
sign therefore in this discourse, to bring this sub- 
ject before you ; and keeping an eye on the law and 
the testimony in connection with the unequivocal 
dictates of experience, reverently to inquire respect 
ing THE AGENCY OF GoD in revivals of religion. 
The passage which! have read to you, taken from 
the prayer of Habakkuk, may be a fit introduction 
to this subject ; for though the petition is made up 
of five words — " O Lord, revive thy work" — it re- 



LECTURE IV. 91 

cognises the fact of God's agency in a revival in 
two different ways: — it declares that the work is 
God's ; and it is the direct expression of a desire 
that he would revive it. 

This agency may be advantageously considered 
under two distinct heads : — 

I, The agency of Providence. 

II. The agency of the Spirit, 

I. Of Providence, It is one of the most simple de- 
ductions from the perfections of God, that he or- 
ders all things according to the counsel of his own 
will ; in other words, that he has a plan which in- 
cludes all events ; which extends even to the num- 
bering of hairs and the falling of sparrows. Of 
course, nothing ever occurs to an individual, but is 
designed to answer some purpose in the chain of 
events ; and it is reasonable to consider the less 
important events as ordered in reference to the more 
important ; — the one sustaining to the other the re- 
lation of means to an end ; though it must be ac- 
knowledged that if particular events are viewed in 
relation to the whole system of Providence, our 
views are too limited to enable us to judge of their 
comparative importance. Now it will readily be ac- 
knowledged that no event ever occurs in the life of 
an individual so important to him as his conversion ; 
the change of his character — from being a subject of 
pollution to a subject of holiness ; and of his desti- 
ny — from being an heir of misery to an heir of glory. 
It is reasonable therefore to suppose that many 
events in his life which, taken by themselves, may 



93 LECTURE IV. 

seem of little moment, may nevertheless be designed 
by Providence to lead to this wonderful change. 
And if I mistake not, every Christian, especially 
every one whose first experience has been strongly 
marked, will find, on review, that he was led to the 
fountain of atoning blood by a path which he knew 
not; that God was working by circumstances of 
which, at the time, he himself made no account, to 
prepare him to come out of darkness into marvel-' 
lous light. Perhaps his serious impressions origi- 
nated in what seemed an accidental conversation 
with some friend ; — a conversation which he did not 
court, and which would have been avoided, if he had 
happened to walk on the opposite side of the street ; 
or perhaps he was brought to reflection by some 
discourse which he had gone to listen to from mere 
curiosity ; or possibly some circumstance may have 
occurred where he would least have looked for it — 
in connection with his amusements or his excesses, 
which God has overruled as a means of stopping 
him in his career of guilt. I doubt not that there 
are those among you. Christian friends, who may, 
at this moment, be going back in your thoughts to 
some event which, at the time, you scarcely noticed, 
as having marked the era of your first setting your 
face towards heaven ; and now that you can look 
at that event in some of its more remote influences, 
you are ready in devout thanksgiving to the provi- 
dence of God, to connect with it all the joy that 
you have in believing in Jesus, and in the hope of 
hereafter seeing him as he is. 



LECTURE IV. 93 

Now if it is right to consider God as ordering the 
events of his providence with reference to the con- 
version of a single individual, it is certainly safe to 
form the same conclusion in respect to the conver- 
sion of many individuals ; in other words, in regard 
to a revival of religion. There may be obstacles 
to be removed which seem to lie beyond all human 
power; but these God not unfrequently puts aside 
by an agency so silent and simple that men do not 
even observe it ; while in other cases, though more 
rarely, he accomplishes the same end by some sig- 
nal dispensation which almost bears the aspect of a 
miracle ; — ^waking up even the careless mind to the 
reflection, "What hath God wrought !" Sometimes 
by the death of an individual, there is an organized 
and efficient opposition to the gospel put down; 
and sometimes by an individual changing his resi- 
dence, there is a large accession of religious influ- 
ence to some community ; and the means of grace 
are multiplied; and a revival of religion succeeds. 
There may be some alarming dispensation of pro- 
vidence to arouse many simultaneously to reflec- 
tion ; or some one whose influence is extensively 
felt may become the subject of renewing grace, and 
may be a kind of central point from which good in- 
fluences shall extend in every direction. It is fully 
believed that, in all ordinary cases in which a revi- 
val takes place, it would be no difficult thing to 
mark a distinct providential agency preparatory to 
it ; and especially where the cause of religion has 
greatly languished, and the means of religion are 



94 LECTURE IV. 

but partially enjoyed, this agency is sometimes so 
manifest as to constitute of itself a distinct and so- 
lemn call to sinners to awake out of sleep. But 

II. There is also an agency of the Spirit, This 
we proceed now to contemplate. 

Of those general facts in relation to this subject, 
which are clearly matter of revelation and experi- 
ence, we may mention the following : — 

1. The fact that the Spirit actually does operate in 
the whole work ofnaarCs sanctijication. Hear the Spi- 
rit's own testimony on this subject : — " Not by works 
of righteousness which we have done, but accord- 
ing to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of re- 
generation, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." 
" But as many as received him, to them gave he 
power to become the sons of God ; even to them 
that believe on his name. Which were born not 
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will 
of man, but of God." " God hath from the begin- 
ning chosen you to salvation, through the sanctifi- 
cation of the Holy Ghost." "A new heart also will 
I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you : 
and I will take away the stony heart out of your 
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." 

But beside many passages of scripture, of which 
those now recited are a specimen, in which the doc- 
trine of the Spirit's agency is clearly taught, there 
are mSiJij facts recorded in the Bible, by which the 
same truth is abundantly confirmed. How will you 
account for it, for instance, that the preaching of 
the Son of God produced so little effect, and the 



LECTURE IV. 95 

preaching of his apostles so much '( How was it 
that multitudes were aroused, and pricked to the 
heart, and actually converted, under the preaching 
of Peter, who had sat with indifference, or rather 
been excited to opposition, under the preaching of 
Him who spake as never man spake ? Whence was 
it that the jailor, who had doubtless often heard the 
Apostle before the night of his conversion, remained 
indifferent till that time ; and then evinced so much 
anxiety and alarm, and finally a disposition to own 
Jesus as his Saviour and his Master, and to walk in 
his steps ? And in general, whence was it that such 
marvellous success attended the ministry of the 
apostles ; that by preaching a doctrine which enlist- 
ed against it the strongest prejudices and worst pas- 
sions of the heart, they undermined the thrones of 
Paganism, and caused tens of thousands to gather 
around the standard of the cross ? Here is a pro- 
blem that has always been too hard for the jeering 
infidel to solve ; and which most infidels have ma- 
nifested but little disposition to encounter. There 
is no solution of it except in the fact that God 
works in the hearts of men by his Spirit ; and that 
he dispenses it in the sovereignty of his wisdom. 

2. Another fact in relation to this subject, of 
which we have the fullest evidence, is, that the Spi- 
rit, in performing his work upon the hearts of men^ 
has respect to the laws of their moral nature, 

God has made man what he is — a voluntary, ac- 
countable agent. He has given him the power not 
only of distinguishing, but of choosing between good 



96 LECTURE IV. 

and evil, has constituted him in such a manner that 
he is susceptible of the influence of motives ; and 
every one must perceive that this involves responsi- 
bility. Inasmuch then, as this constitution of our 
nature is derived from God, it were to be expected 
that whatever influence he should exert upon the 
mind would be consistent with it ; in other words, 
that he should not contradict his own works. It 
would do little honor to infinite wisdom to suppose 
that he should have formed man with such a nature, 
that he could not have access to it, without viola- 
ting the laws which he had himself established. 

But the conclusion to which we should arrive on 
this subject from the very perfections of God, is 
abundantly corroborated by the testimony of his 
word. Says Joshua to the people of Israel, "Choose 
you this day whom ye will serve ; whether the gods 
which your fathers served, that were on the other 
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in 
whose land ye dwell ; but as for me and my house, 
we will serve the Lord." And again, our Saviour 
says, " Mary hath chose?! that good part which shall 
not be taken away from her." Indeed, what are all 
the exhortations, and promises, and threatenings, 
of the Bible, but a mass of evidence that God ope- 
rates upon the hearts of men as moral agents ; that 
he takes for granted that they are to be active in 
the work of their sanctification, notwithstanding he 
is himself the efficient cause of it ? Admit that men 
are operated upon as mere machines, and then read 



LECTURE IV. 97 

any part of the Bible, and see what meaning you 
can find in it. 

And I may add that the experience of Christians 
on this subject is in exact correspondence with the 
teachings of God's word. Let the Christian who is 
just entering heaven, give himself to the work of 
reviewing his own experience ; let him look back to 
the hour when he first trembled under a conviction 
of his guilt ; or to the time when he first felt the 
preciousness of the Saviour's love ; or to his sub- 
sequent conflicts with corruption and temptation ; 
or to any or every part of his progress in holiness ; 
and while he will acknowledge with gratitude and 
delight that the Spirit has been active in it all, and 
deserves all the glory, he will be completely satisfi- 
ed that there has never been the least interruption 
of his moral agency. He will find that he has been 
working out his salvation with fear and trembling, 
while God has wrought within him both to will and 
to do. 

3. Another fact on this subject, which is ascer- 
tained to us by the best evidence, is, that the Spirit 
operates by means of the truth. It is partly in refe- 
rence to this that He is called " the Spirit of truth;" 
and so also men are said to be " sanctified by the 
truth ;" — not by the truth independently of the Spi- 
rit, but by the Spirit operating by means of the 
truth. Sometimes the agent alone is mentioned, 
and sometimes the instrument ; but where one is 
spoken of, the other is always impHed. 

In the work which the Holy Spirit performs up- 
on the heart, he makes use of every part of the 

13 



98 LECTURE IV. 

great system of truth which God has revealed. But 
particular truths are adapted to accomplish particu- 
lar ends : some are especially fitted to alarm the 
conscience : others to bring peace and joy into the 
soul : others to quicken and encourage to a course 
of vigorous activity and Christian self-denial : and 
the Spirit, in different parts of his vi^ork, uses these 
various truths discriminatingly, according to the 
particular end he may design to accomplish. When 
we say, however, that God's truth is adapted to the 
work of man's sanctification, we must beware of 
the idea that the efiicacy resides ultimately in the 
instrument : it is the great agent who produces the 
effect ; and the truth wielded by any other power 
than his, would never sanctify a single heart, even 
though it might be preached to every creature. It 
is indeed a well adapted — a divinely adapted instru- 
ment ; but it is an instrument still ; and it is only 
through God that it is mighty to the pulling down 
of strong holds. 

We will contemplate for a moment the work of 
the Holy Spirit in some of its distinct parts : in 
conviction of sin ; conversion to God ; and subse- 
quent progress in the divine life. 

1. The Spirit is active in convincing men of sin. 
Our Saviour distinctly recognised this among the 
great purposes for which the Spirit was to be sent 
into the world. " And when he is come," said he, 
" he will reprove the world of sin." This office he 
performed in the case of the three thousand who 
were pricked in the heart on the day of Pentecost, 
and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, 



LECTURE IV. 99 

" Men and Brethren, what shall we do ?" A similar 
effect was produced in the case of the jailer, who, 
at midnight, called for a light, and sprang into the 
prison, and came trembling, and fell down before 
Paul and Silas, and said, " Sirs, what must I do to 
be saved ?" And the same thing substantially oc- 
curs in the case of every awakened sinner. And 
the agent to whom this work is, in every instance, 
to be ultimately referred is the Holy Spirit. This 
is always the first step to the effectual application 
of the benefits of Christ's death ; though there are 
multitudes who experience this, and perish notwith- 
standing. 

That faculty or principle of the soul which is 
especially the subject of the Spirit's operation in 
conviction of sin, is the conscience. It is this 
which recognises the difference between right and 
wrong, and passes a sentence of approbation or 
disapprobation on our own actions. This, there- 
fore, is the appropriate principle to be brought into 
exercise in the work of conviction ; and to this the 
Spirit always addresses itself. Hence conviction is 
uniformly attended by remorse ; and not unfrequent- 
ly so pungent as to amount to agony. Hence, too, 
convinced sinners are said to be " pricked in the 
heart;" — an expression which denotes the most ex- 
cruciating anguish. 

The kind of truth which the Spirit uses in ac- 
complishing this work is primarily the law of God. 
" By the law," says the Apostle, " is the knowledge 
of sin." God's law is nothing else than a transcript 



100 LECTURE IV. 

of his moral character ; requiring all his creatures 
to be holy, according to their measure, as he is holy. 
It is the eternal standard of right ; and every de- 
parture from it is sin ; — the abominable thing which 
God hateth. But if men are practically ignorant 
of this standard, they will of course be in the same 
degree ignorant of their sins ; and it is only in pro- 
portion as the law is brought home to them in its 
high and awful bearings, that they can have any 
conviction of sin. And the more they view the law 
in its amazing extent, as reaching to the thoughts, 
affections, purposes — as taking cognizance of the 
whole inner man ; and during every period of their 
existence ; — the more they view it in connection with 
the awful attributes of Jehovah — especially his om- 
nipotence, his omniscience, his holiness and his 
truth ; so much the more black and dreadful appears 
the guilt of sin ; so much the more numerous and 
appalling their own personal transgressions. I say, 
then, that the law is the great instrument which the 
Spirit of God wields in producing conviction of 
sin. Let that never be brought in contact with the 
conscience, and the sinner would go slumbering to 
his grave. If we might suppose the case that it 
should be kept out of view in the next world, the 
hell which the Bible describes could not exist. 

There are indeed other parts of divine truth be- 
sides the law, which the Spirit uses in the work of 
conviction ; but they are subordinate to this. For 
instance, the great doctrine of Christ crucified for 
the sins of men, has often a powerful influence in 



LECTURE IV. 101 

convincing men of sin ; — for herein the honors of 
the law are maintained ; and the argument which 
the Spirit uses with the sinner's conscience is, that 
if sin be such a tremendous evil as to demand for its 
expiation the death of the Son of God, then re- 
pentance of sin must be an immediate and impera- 
tive duty. And I doubt not that many a sinner, 
while he has yet been blind to the glories of re- 
demption, has derived his deepest conviction of sin 
from the views which he has taken of this doctrine : 
and the question has forced itself upon his con- 
science with fearful urgency, " If these things be 
done in the green tree, what shall be done in the 
dry ?" 

The same is true of various other parts of divine 
truth : the Spirit in his gracious sovereignty uses 
them to convince men of sin ; and sometimes even 
those truths which might seem to us least adapted 
to that end ; but the influence which they exert is 
indirect ; and uniformly terminates in bringing God's 
law to bear upon the conscience. 

2. There is also an agency of the Spirit in the work 
of conversion ; — in the turning of the soul from sin 
to holiness. This is what is referred to by our Sa- 
viour when he says, " Except a man be born of the 
Spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God." The 
work which the Spirit here performs is the renova- 
tion of man's moral nature ; changing an enemy of 
God into a friend of God ; — and if we have a right 
to compare the different kinds of influence which 
he exerts upon the children of men with each other, 



102 LECTURE IV. 

perhaps it is a reasonable conclusion that more of 
his omnipotence is exerted here than in any other 
part of his work. What is done in conviction is 
only a preparation for this : what is done in sancti- 
fication is but a continuation of it. As the act of 
conversion may be considered in some respects the 
most decisive in its bearing upon man's destiny, so, 
we may suppose that it brings him more closely in- 
to communion with the almighty energies of God's 
Spirit than any other. 

The Spirit, in his converting influences, instead 
of bringing the truth to bear directly upon the con- 
science, addresses it to the will and the affections. 
The will, or the faculty by which we determine our 
actions, has naturally a wrong direction ; and in re- 
generation it is set right : the affections are natu- 
rally placed upon forbidden objects ; and in rege- 
neration they are recalled to objects which are wor- 
thy of them. Or to avoid all appearance of philo- 
sophical distinctions, the soul that has hitherto loved 
and chosen sin, experiences a change, in conse- 
quence of which it will hereafter love and choose 
holiness. Hence, the scripture speaks of it as a 
change of heart, by which we mean in common 
language, a change of disposition. Man in his na- 
tural state is said to possess " a heart of stone ;" in 
his renewed state " a heart of flesh," or " a new 
heart." As this then is the part of his nature in 
which the change primarily takes place, to this we 
must suppose the agency of the Spirit in performing 
the change, is especially directed. 



LECTURE IV. 103 

And as the work of conversion is performed on 
a different department of man's nature from that of 
conviction, so also it is accompHshed through the 
instrumentahty of a different part of the system of 
divine truth. It is not only of the incorruptible 
seed of the word of God that men are born to new- 
ness of hfe, but it is by the gospel, in distinction 
from the law, that this work is effected. It was the 
law that made the jailer tremble : it was the gospel 
that brought peace and gladness to his soul. It was 
the law that caused the three thousand to be prick- 
ed in the heart ; it was the gospel — Christ crucifi- 
ed — that melted them into contrition, and trans- 
formed them into disciples. And you see the rea- 
son of it — the law speaks terror, and nothing else : 
it points to a most eventful trial; and anticipates 
the eternal wrath of God. The gospel proclaims 
good news. It tells the sinner that his case though 
deplorable, is not desperate ; and hope encourages 
exertion. It holds up the glorious truth, that through 
the merits of Christ's atoning blood, there is eter- 
nal life ; and the sinner, through the agency of the 
Holy Ghost seizes hold of this truth as of life from 
the dead ; and in view of it, he melts down, in humble 
submission, at the foot of the cross. I do not mean 
that the gospel, in its more particular, and even less 
important doctrines, may not sometimes be directly 
instrumental of producing this change ; though cer- 
tain it is, that wherever it takes place, it is the gos- 
pel, in distinction from the law, that accomplishes 
it. As it is not a common thing, to say the least. 



104 LECTURE IV. 

for men to know, with absolute assurance, the pre- 
cise period of their conversion, so they cannot or- 
dinarily determine what particular part of divine 
truth was then directly before the mind ; but if it 
were possible to ascertain, they would doubtless al- 
ways find that it had a more or less intimate con- 
nection with the cross of Christ. 

3. There is moreover an agency of the Spirit in 
the whole progress of the soul in holiness. Says the 
Apostle to the Thessalonians, " We are bound to 
give thanks alway to God for you, brethren, beloved 
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning, 
chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the 
Spirit and belief of the truth." The regenerating 
act leaves the soul far from a state of perfect holi- 
ness. The general current of its desires and pur- 
poses is changed ; but notwithstanding this change, 
the Christian finds a law in his members warring 
against the law of his mind, and bringing him into 
captivity to the law of sin. Hence there is much to 
be done subsequently to his regeneration, to pre- 
pare him for heaven ; and in every part of this work, 
the Spirit has a more or less direct agency. Some- 
times he is to be reclaimed from a course of back- 
sliding ; sometimes to be fortified against the influ- 
ence of temptation ; sometimes to be stimulated to 
great and arduous enterprises ; now there is to be 
enkindled a spirit of elevated devotion, and now a 
spirit of stirring activity ; but in all this, and in all 
which belongs to the work of sanctification, a di- 
vine influence is to be exerted. All the various pow- 



LECTURE IV. 105 

ers of the soul — the conscience — the will — the af- 
fections — the whole spiritual man — are to be brought 
into exercise, according to the particular end which 
the Spirit may design to accomplish. And so also 
every part of revealed truth — the law and the gos- 
pel, and each particular doctrine of the gospel, are 
used by this divine agent in carrying forward his 
work. And thus the whole man becomes more and 
more pure, until he reaches at last the fulness of the 
stature of a perfect person in Christ. 

I have thus given you what I suppose to be a 
scriptural view of the agency of the Spirit, in respect 
to a single individual, who finally reaches heaven. 
Now what I have here described in respect to a sin- 
gle case, takes place, in a revival of religion, in ma- 
ny cases. Many sinners are the subjects of con- 
viction and conversion ; and God's people are ad- 
vanced in the spiritual life. Nevertheless there are 
some points of view in which the divine agency in 
a revival deserves to be more particularly contem- 
plated. 

In every revival we are distinctly to recognise 
the sovereignty of God, As this is displayed in the 
influence by which a single soul is converted, it cer- 
tainly is not less manifest in those copious showers 
of influence by which hundreds are converted. He 
who causes it to rain on one city and not on an- 
other, directs the motion of those clouds in the spi- 
ritual world from which descend the blessings of 
reviving and quickening grace. " The wind blow- 
eth, where it listeth; and thou hearest the sound 

14 



106 LECTURE IV. 

thereof; but canst not tell whence it cometh, or 
whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of 
the Spirit." And so too is every revival of religion. 
There is one grand principle of our nature, which 
the Holy Spirit makes great use of in a revival, 
that is not brought into exercise in a single con- 
version ; and which perhaps, more than any thing 
else, distinguishes the character of his agency in 
the two cases — I mean the principle of sympathy. 
The operation of this principle is familiar to us all 
in the common intercourse of life. You all know 
what it is to have a fellow feeling ; — to be affected 
by the affection of another with feelings correspond- 
ent with those you witness in him. Who, for in- 
stance, has not been made to feel joyful, merely by 
coming in contact with those whose countenances 
have worn the aspect, and whose conversation has 
breathed the spirit of joy ? And who has not felt 
his heart melting with sorrow, and even his eyes suf- 
fused with tears, merely from being cast into a scene 
in which there were bleeding hearts and streaming 
eyes ? Now this principle with which we are all so 
perfectly familiar in common life, is brought into 
exercise with great effect in a revival of religion. 
A brother, for instance, sees a sister, or a husband 
a wife, or a parent a child, weeping under a sense 
of sin ; and inquiring, it may be with agony, in re- 
spect to her salvation. That brother, or husband, 
or parent, must be destitute of all natural sensibili- 
ty, not to be moved by such a spectacle : But the 
first exercise of the soul in such a case will not be 



LECTURE IV. 107 

repentance — it will not be conviction ; but it will 
be simply a fellow feeling for a beloved friend in dis- 
tress. Now it is acknowledged that there is no na- 
tural affinity between this state of mind and religion ; 
nevertheless, the former constitutes a happy prepara- 
tion for the latter, and often the first step towards it. 
For how natural for the sinner to inquire at such a 
moment, whether there be any adequate cause for 
this distress ; and how probably will the answer to 
this inquiry bring up the solemnities of eternity be- 
fore the mind, and set the conscience at work ; and 
then the dream of thoughtlessness is interrupted, 
and the cord which binds the soul to the world is 
loosed ; and having advanced so far, there is rea- 
son to hope that he will hold on his way, till he 
comes into the marvellous liberty of a child of God. 
The same principle is often brought into exercise in 
the worshipping assembly. Let there be that deep 
and awful solemnity pervading a congregation that 
is induced by the special presence of the Spirit of 
God ; let there be many countenances and many 
eyes that shall betray a deep, though silent anxiety ; 
and believe me, every anxious countenance, every 
fixed eye, will preach ; and it will utter a mysteri- 
ous language that will not improbably waken up the 
sensibilities of the careless sinner ; and this will 
naturally serve to open his ear to God's truth ; and 
thus conviction may take the place of sympathy, and 
in the train of that may soon follow the clean heart 
and the right spirit. I know. Brethren, that this is 
a true description of the manner in which many a 



108 LECTURE IV. 

sinner has passed from thoughtlessness to alarm ; 
from darkness to light. And I doubt not that the 
same principle is often brought into exercise in ad- 
vancing the believer's sanctification ; especially in 
rousing him from spiritual sloth, and in stirring him 
up to a higher tone both of feeling and of action. 

Let no one dream that there is any thing in this, 
which casts suspicion on the reality, or derogates 
from the dignity of a revival of religion. I repeat, 
mere sympathy is not religion ; though no doubt it 
is sometimes mistaken for it. It has no one of all 
the ingredients of religion; and may exist, and 
does exist, in connection with rank hatred and bitter 
opposition to the gospel. Nevertheless, it is an 
original principle of human nature, which, when 
operating on other subjects than that of religion, is 
considered amiable and even noble ; and wherefore 
is it that, in respect to this, it degenerates into a pitia- 
ble weakness ? It is manifestly adapted to bring men 
to a sense of religion ; and why should not the Holy 
Ghost use it for the accomplishment of that end ? 

There is yet another influence which the Spirit 
renders subservient to sustaining a revival of reli- 
gion — I mean that of example. There is no de- 
partment of human action in which this influence is 
not powerfully realized ; and there is as little mys- 
tery in respect to the manner in which it operates 
in a revival as any where else. Here are indivi- 
duals becoming impressed with religious truth, and 
inquiring what they shall do to be saved, and actu- 
ally believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that they 



LECTURE IV. 109 

may be saved. How natural that this fact should 
speak to the consciences of others, not merely 
through sympathy, but through the understanding, 
and thus put them upon a course which will termi- 
nate in genuine conversion. Besides, every one 
knows that one of the most formidable obstacles to 
entering on a religious life is a false shame — a dread 
of being singular ; but in a revival the current of 
example is in favor of religion; and the anxious 
sinner has nothing to fear from the shafts of ridi- 
cule being pointed at him ; — or if they are pointed at 
him, they fall powerless at his feet. It is not uncom- 
mon on these occasions for men of great worldly 
influence and distinction to come out from the world, 
and openly proclaim themselves on the Lord's side ; 
and every such event almost of course makes an 
impression upon many minds ; and others in the 
same walks of life, who have been accustomed per- 
haps to regard religion as a matter chiefly for the 
lower classes, are waked up to serious reflection ; 
and begin to conclude that it is at least worth while 
to inquire whether that which receives the sanction 
of the intelligent, and the learned, and those who 
are best qualified to judge, may not be a serious re- 
ality. And this may lead to examination ; and ex- 
amination to conviction ; and conviction to an ac- 
tual renovation of heart. The history of revivals 
records many facts, like the cases which I have here 
supposed ; and I should hazard little if I were to 
say that there are probably individuals before me, 
whose hearts are full of Christian joy and hope, 



110 LECTURE IV. 

who refer their first rehgious impressions to the in- 
fluence of example in the midst of some revival of 
religion. I hardly need add, that there is no natu- 
ral connection between such an influence and true 
piety ; nevertheless the Holy Spirit renders the one 
subservient to the production and the advancement 
of the other. 

Moreover, the Spirit of God operates during a re- 
vival to bring into exercise a far more vigorous and 
efficient human instrumentality^ than on ordinary oc- 
casions. He impresses ministers more deeply with 
their responsibility, causing them to bring home the 
truth to the consciences of their hearers with un- 
wonted earnestness. He renders Christians more 
circumspect, more active, more earnest in prayer, 
more ready to warn the sinner of his wicked way, 
more desirous of abounding in all respects in the 
work of the Lord. In short, he causes the whole 
system of means to be wielded with a greatly in- 
creased energy. The truth of God bursts forth up- 
on the conscience of the sinner on every side ; and 
the reason is that God is making his ministers and 
his people feel their responsibility, by impressing 
them more deeply with their obligations to Christ, 
and by carrying them forward to the solemnities of 
the judgment day. 

With two inferences we shall conclude the dis- 
course. 

1. We may see, in view of our subject, that it is 
possible to attribute to the Spirit too little agency, and 
too much, in revivals of religion. 



LECTURE IV. Ill 

There are those, on the one hand, who attri- 
bute too httle to this Almighty Agent. They do 
this by the manner in which they speak of revivals 
— as if they were produced altogether by man ; and 
if the Spirit is mentioned at all, it is in a way that 
would indicate that we had little to do with it. They 
do this by the measures which they adopt in carry- 
ing forward revivals ; substituting human inventions 
for divinely appointed means ; and urging the doc- 
trine of moral agency not in connection with that of 
a divine influence, but in a great degree to the exclu- 
sion of it. On the other hand, there are those who 
attribute too much to the agency of the Spirit. — 
They do this who speak of revivals, as if God only 
was at work in them, and man a mere passive reci- 
pient of impressions. They do this who do not ex- 
ert themselves to the utmost to co-operate with God, 
on the ground that a revival is a mere matter of 
sovereignty, and that God is able to carry forward 
his own work independently of means. They do 
this also who speak of every thing that may happen 
to be connected with a revival as the immediate ef- 
fect of divine influence ; — who set down to the ac- 
count of the Holy Spirit peculiar tones of voice, 
and expressions of countenance, and violent ges- 
tures, which are supposed to indicate deep and 
strong feeling ; and any thing that is harsh, or bois- 
terous, or in any respect irregular, even though it 
may seem to be associated with the greatest imagi- 
nable fervor. These things no doubt may all exist in 



112 LECTURE IV. 

connection with a true revival ; but they are the 
work of men — not the work of God. 

The two evils of which I have spoken may pos- 
sibly co-exist in respect to the same persons ; that 
is, the same individuals may attribute too much to 
the Spirit in some respects, and too little in others. 
His agency in carrying forward the great work may 
practically be recognised but little ; and yet he may 
be familiarly spoken of as being present in particular 
scenes, and as prompting to particular actions, 
which he could not fail to disown. Brethren, we 
honor the Holy Spirit most, when we give him pre- 
cisely the place which he claims ; when we recog- 
nise him as the efficient author of conviction, con- 
version, and sanctification ; but he is offended 
when we undertake to palm upon him what we ought 
to take with shame to ourselves. 

2. Our subject teaches us that if we would labor 
successfully in the cause of revivals^ we must labor 
with a spirit of dependence on God. 

This is the spirit that is most likely to bring 
success to our labors, because it is most likely to 
render us active and faithful. He who depends up- 
on his own strength, has but a feeble motive to ex- 
ertion ; for his strength is but weakness ; and when 
viewed in relation to the object to be accomplish- 
ed — the conversion of the soul — it is the weakness 
of an infant. But he who depends on God has the 
most powerful motive for action that can be pre- 
sented ; for he realizes that the almighty and ever- 
lasting arm is round about him in his work -, and 



LECTURE IV. 113 

this is the only pledge of success that he needs. 
With this encouragement he is prepared to labor 
vigorously and perseveringly ; to labor in the face 
of appalling obstacles ; to labor even in the darkest 
times ; for he knows that God's grace is sufficient to 
render the feeblest of his efforts mighty to the pul- 
ling down of strong holds. 

Besides, it is a spirit of dependence that honors 
God. In it there is a practical acknowledgement 
of our own weakness, and of his greatness and 
goodness, of his ability and readiness to help. In 
the exercise of it, man sinks down before the throne 
as nothing, and with the confidence of a child, lifts up 
his heart to God as all in all. And them that honor 
him in the exercise of this spirit, he will honor by 
sending down in answer to their prayers the bless- 
ings of his grace. And on this subject I appeal 
with confidence to facts. Wherever God's people 
have been truly humbled before him, and have been 
brought deeply to feel their own impotence, and 
have been willing to be used as mere instruments, 
and to let him have all the glory, there you will find 
that a rich blessing has usually been bestowed ; and 
on the other hand, where they have had little sense 
of their need of divine influence, and have address- 
ed themselves to their work with a spirit of self- 
confidence, however diligently they may have labor- 
ed, they have ordinarily been compelled to witness 
barrenness and lethargy in the train of their efforts ; 
or, if there has been the appearance of a revival, 

15 



114 LECTURE IV. 

there is much reason to apprehend that there is in 
it httle of the presence or power of God. 

What then, Christians, is the great practical in- 
ference which you ought to deduce in respect to 
yourselves ? It is that in all your labors for the re- 
vival of God's work in the midst of you, or for the 
promotion of the general cause of revivals, you 
should feel more deeply that the Lord Jehovah is 
your strength. Every effort that you make in the 
spirit of self confidence, is an insult to the Holy 
Ghost. Go forth then, leaning upon the Almighty 
arm. Go and do your duty to each other and to 
the world ; go and instruct the ignorant, and guide 
the inquiring, and put forth every effort you can to 
bring souls to Jesus ; but remember after all, and 
remember for your rich encouragement, the doctrine 
of sovereign grace. Yes, even in the moments when 
you feel the weakest, and when your work seems 
the greatest, and when obstacles the most appalling 
rise up in your path, and when your heart is driven 
from every other source of hope, even then, remem- 
ber the doctrine of sovereign grace, and hold on 
your way laboring, yet rejoicing. 



LECTURE V. 



GENERAL MEANS OF PRODUCING AND PROMOTING 

REVIVALS. 



Phlippians I. 27. 
— Striving together for the faith of the gospel. 

The Apostle uniformly manifested a cordial re- 
gard and complacency towards all who loved the 
Lord Jesus Christ. But there were reasons why 
the Philippian Christians occupied a higher place in 
his affections than many others. It was through 
his instrumentality that they had been converted to 
the faith of the gospel. They had manifested a 
faithful adherence to their principles in the midst of 
much opposition. They seem moreover to have 
given some special evidences of sympathy and at- 
tachment towards him, during his imprisonment at 
Rome — such as became the relation they sustained 
to him as his own children in the gospel. Hence 
it is not strange that he should have honored them 
with an epistle ; or that it should have been charac- 
terized by expressions of most affectionate regard, 
and of the deepest concern for their spiritual wel- 
fare. At the date of the epistle, he was still con- 



116 LECTURE V. 

fined in prison ; and it does not appear that the time 
of his release was then fixed: hence, in exhorting 
them to fidehty and perseverance, he alludes to the 
fact that he might or might not make them a visit ; 
but in either case, he earnestly desires that they 
may continue stedfastly engaged in the cause to 
vrhich they were devoted. " Only let your conver- 
sation be as becometh the gospel of Christ : that 
whether I come and see you or else be absent, I 
may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one 
spirit, with one mind, striving together for the foith 
of the gospeL^^ 

The direction contained in the text may properly 
be considered as pointing in a general manner to 
the duty of Christians in relation to a revival of re- 
ligion. In a preceding discourse, we have contem- 
plated the agency of God in a revival : in the pre- 
sent, we are to contemplate the agency of man ; in 
other words, we are to consider some of the more 
prominent means in the hands of the church, which 
the Holy Spirit honors in reviving, and sustaining, 
and advancing his work. 

These means may be considered as of two kinds : 
those which are expressly prescribed by God, and 
those which are adopted by men professedly in ac- 
cordance with the spirit of the gospel. 

In respect to the former, viz. the instituted means 
of grace — we must suppose that they are fitted to 
accomplish their end in the best possible manner. 
He who devised them, made the mind, and is per- 
fectly acquainted with all its moral disorders, and 



LECTURE V. 117 

knows by what means it can be best approached, 
and what kind of instrumentahty is most in accord- 
ance with its constitution. Unquestionably then, 
in all our efforts to cure the disorders of the 
mind, or what is the same thing, to produce or pro- 
mote a revival of rehgion, we are to depend chiefly 
on the means which God himself has appointed ; 
and we are to expect the greatest and best effect 
from them, when they are used in their greatest 
simplicity — precisely in the manner in which God 
designed they should be used. It is possible, no 
doubt, that a divine institution may be so perverted, 
that nothing more than the form of it shall be re- 
tained ; and it is possible that it may be so incum- 
bered with human additions that, though the sub- 
stance of it may be said in some sense to remain, 
yet it loses in a great degree its life and power. In 
opposition to this, we are to retain both the sub- 
stance and the form of God's institutions : let his 
word be preached ; let his worship be celebrated ; 
let all the appointed means of grace be used, ex- 
actly in accordance with his own directions, and 
then we may expect, with the greatest confidence, 
that he will honor them with his blessing. 

But God has not limited his people, in their ef- 
forts to advance his cause, to what may properly be 
called divine institutions : he permits them to adopt 
means to a certain extent of their own devising ; 
though, in exercising this liberty, they are to take 
heed that they depart not at all from the spirit of 
the gospel. In all the departments of benevolent 



118 LECTURE V. 

action, the invention of man is, in a greater or less 
degree, laid under contribution : the great system 
of moral machinery which has been put in opera- 
tion in these latter days for evangelizing the world, 
is to be attributed immediately to the wisdom and 
energy of the church ; and every one knows that 
this has been crowned with the special favor of 
God. In the same manner, he permits his children 
to exercise their own judgment, to a certain extent, 
in the adoption of measures for carrying forward a 
revival ; and if those measures are in accordance 
with the general tenor of his word, though not in 
all cases expressly enjoined by it, they have a right 
to expect that he will affix to them the seal of his 
approbation : but if they are contrary to the spirit 
of the gospel, they must inevitably incur his dis- 
pleasure. 

What then are some of the general characteristics 
of those measures which the Bible authorizes in 
connection with a revival of religion? The true 
answer to this question may not only enable us to 
distinguish between right and wrong measures of 
man's devising, but also to decide when the institu- 
ted means of grace are, or are not, used in a scrip- 
tural manner. 

1. All the means which God's word authorizes, 
are characterized by seriousness. 

It will be admitted, on all hands, that if any sub- 
ject can be presented to the mind which claims its 
serious regard, it is religion; or if any occasion 
ever occurs, in which the semblance of levity is un- 



LECTURE V. 119 

seasonable and revolting, it is a revival of religion. 
For then the world, for a season at least, falls into 
the back ground ; and the interests of the soul be- 
come the all engrossing object. Then men are letting 
go the things which are seen and are temporal, and 
grasping after the things which are not seen and 
are eternal. The work which is attended to then, 
is deep reflection, and earnest prayer, and agoni- 
zing conviction, and effectual repentance, and the 
forming of holy resolutions, and the renewing of 
spiritual strength. Many sinners are coming into 
the kingdom; and saints, and no doubt angels, are 
looking on with deep concern lest others should 
abandon their convictions, and provoke the Spirit 
to depart from them forever. I may appeal to any 
of you who have been in the midst of a revival, whe- 
ther a deep solemnity did not pervade the scene ; 
whether, even if it is your common business to tri- 
fle, you were not compelled to be solemn then ? And 
if you have wished at such a moment to be gay, 
have you not felt that that was not the place for it; 
and that before you could get your mind filled with 
vain thoughts, and your heart with light emotions, 
you must withdraw and mingle in some diflTerent 
scene ? 

Now then, if there be a high degree of solemnity 
belonging essentially to a revival of religion — if 
there never be a scene on earth more solemn than 
this — surely every measure that is adopted in con- 
nection with it, ought to partake of the same cha- 
racter. It were worse than preposterous to think 



120 LECTURE V. 

of carrying forward such a work by any means 
which are not marked by the deepest seriousness, 
or to introduce any thing which is adapted to awa- 
ken and cherish the hghter emotions, when all such 
emotions should be awed out of the mind. All lu- 
dicrous anecdotes, and modes of expression, and 
gestures, and attitudes, are never more out of place 
than when the Holy Spirit is moving upon the hearts 
of a congregation. Every thing of this kind is fit- 
ted to grieve him away; because it directly contra- 
dicts the errand on which he has come ; — that of 
convincing sinners of their guilt, and renewing them 
to repentance. Nor is the case at all relieved by the 
occasional introduction of what may be really so- 
lenm and weighty ; for its legitimate effect is almost 
of course neutralized by the connection in which it is 
presented ; and that which might otherwise fall with 
awful power upon the conscience, is thus rendered 
utterly powerless and unimpressive. And not only 
so, but there is often in this way an association 
formed in the mind, which is exceedingly hostile to 
subsequent religious impressions ; — an association 
between solemn truths which ought to make the 
sinner tremble, and ludicrous expressions which 
will supply him with matter for jests. 

I doubt not that in reply to this, I shall be refer- 
red to the wonderful success of Whitfield and a few 
others, whose preaching has been characterized by 
w^hat I have here set down as an exceptionable pecu- 
liarity. But I would say that these cases constitute 
exceptions from the common course of human ex- 



LECTURE V. 121 

perience. God had given to these men a power 
over the human passions altogether pecuhar ; so 
that they could sometimes make use even of the 
lighter feelings in giving to divine truth its deepest 
impression. But they are not in this respect an ex- 
ample for other men. All experience proves that 
when men of common minds attempt to tread in 
their footsteps, they acccomplish nothing to any 
good purpose : and even in the case of the indivi- 
duals referred to, it may reasonably be doubted 
whether the good effect of their labors was not of- 
ten diminished, rather than assisted, by the use 
which they made of this extraordinary power : cer- 
tainly this was true in every instance in which the 
lighter emotions were ultimately left to preponde- 
rate. 

But surely no one will say that the Bible treats 
the subject of religion otherwise than in the most 
serious manner. Every thing that is there said re- 
specting it, takes for granted that it is a concern of 
the deepest moment. So too, in all the accounts 
which the Bible records respecting revivals of reli- 
gion, there is nothing that even approaches the con- 
fines of levity. All that is recorded as having been 
spoken or done on these occasions, was of a deeply 
serious character; and as these revivals were con- 
ducted by inspired men, we have a right to con- 
clude that the course which they adopted, was, in 
all respects, most in accordance with the designs of 
infinite wisdom. 

16 



122 LECTURE Vo 

2. Another characteristic of those means for pro- 
moting a revival, which are authorized by God's 
vi^ord, is order. 

The Apostle, in his first epistle to the Corinthi- 
ans, dvrells at length on the importance of avoid- 
ing all irregularities in religious worship; decla- 
ring that "God is not the author of confusion;'^ 
and exhorting that " all things be done decently, 
and in order." And what the Apostle hath said 
on this subject is in entire correspondence with 
the general tenor of God's word ; and I may add, 
with all just and rational views of the divine cha- 
racter. In every thing that God has done there is 
perfect order ; insomuch that it has been said by 
a poet, with inimitable beauty, that " order is hea- 
ven's first law." In the pure and elevated worship 
of heaven, though there are ten thousand times ten 
thousand, and thousands of thousands who join in 
it, yet each harp and each voice is in unison with 
every other ; and there is not the semblance of dis- 
order in that whole glorified community. Surely 
then, in all our religious services, and in all the mea- 
sures we adopt forvco-operating with the Holy Spi- 
rit in the great work of saving men, it becomes us 
to take heed that we never violate even the spirit of 
the Apostle's precept ; that we do every thing not 
only with sincerity and zeal, but with that reverent 
decorum which so well becomes us when engaged 
in the immediate service of the infinite God. And 
hence we are obliged to look with strong condem- 
nation on that indecorous familiarity which is some- 



LECTURE V. 123 

times manifested in prayer ; on expressions which, 
to say the least, border upon vulgarity, and would 
scarcely be regarded decent in common intercourse 
between man and man ; on every thing like groan- 
ing, or shrieking, or shouting, during a religious ser- 
vice ; on the praying of females in meetings com- 
posed of both sexes; on the speaking, whether in 
prayer or exhortation, of several individuals at the 
same time ; on every thing in short which contri- 
butes to render a religious exercise, in the least de- 
gree, boisterous or irregular. We do not doubt 
that many of these evils may exist, not only where 
there is sincerity, but more or less of genuine Chris- 
tian feeling ; but we insist that they are totally in- 
consistent with the decorum that belongs essential- 
ly to religious worship ; and therefore ought to be 
discouraged. 

But possibly it may be asked whether the fervor 
which often exists in connection with these irregu- 
larities is not to be admitted as an apology for them ; 
and whether we ought not to be slow in condemn- 
ing the one, lest we should seem to pass sentence 
against the other? I answer unhesitatingly — No. 
The highest degree of genuine religious fervor, 
even that which the redeemed experience, while 
they cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet, is con- 
sisted with perfect order; and I venture to say 
that their worship, full of elevated rapture as it is, is 
associated with a degree of reverence, of which 
even Isaiah and Paul could here form no adequate 
conception. But that kind of fervor which is the 



124 LECTURE V. 

parent of irregularities, which makes an individual 
apparently forget that he is on earth, and the Being 
whom he addresses, in heaven, is, to say the least, 
of exceedingly doubtful origin, and there is too 
much reason to fear that it will be found at last to 
have been a mere earthly affection. But even if it 
be admitted that a truly Christian fervor may be as- 
sociated with gross irregularities, we maintain that 
there is no natural connection between them : the 
one is right and the other wrong ; and whenever 
they are found together, the true way is to hold fast 
the one, and let go the other. I observe, 

3. That another characteristic of the means which 
God authorizes in connection with a revival is sim- 
plicity ; — and by this I mean the opposite of all 
parade and ostentation. 

It is admitted that, under the Jewish dispensation, 
there were many things connected with religious 
worship, which were adapted to make a strong ap- 
peal to the senses ; but all that machinery was abo- 
lished at the introduction of the Christian economy. 
Now, every thing in relation to the worship of God 
is simple ; even the ordinances which are addressed 
to the senses, though they are full of meaning, are 
yet capable of being understood by a child. And 
all the means which are adopted for the advance- 
ment of religion, ought surely to correspond with 
the general spiritual character of the dispensation. 
And wherever there is a departure from this princi- 
ple in reference to a revival, there is not only a 
palpable violation of scripture precept, but there is 



LECTURE V. 125 

a bad influence exerted, as well upon those who are 
Christians as those who are not. The eflect upon 
Christians is to awaken or cherish spiritual pride, 
and to lead them to lose sight of the great Agent in 
their own self-complacent instrumentality. Its effect 
upon those who are mere spectators will probably be, 
to lead them to pass severe judgment on the revival 
itself; or else, admitting what they see to be scriptur- 
al, to lower their views of the humility of the gospel. 
And if it be admitted that in the use of such means, 
persons become truly regenerated, is there not much 
reason to fear that they will be born into the king- 
dom with an overweening self-confidence ; and that 
they will exhibit from the beginning a cast of cha- 
racter, not the most favorable either to Christian 
enjoyment or Christian usefulness? Let all our 
means for sustaining and advancing revivals be sim- 
ple and unostentatious, and while we shall be acting 
in consistency with the spirit of the gospel, we may 
hope to do most and do best, for our Master's 
honor, and the salvation of our fellow men. 

4. Another characteristic of the means which 
God approves for carrying forward a revival, and 
closely connected with the preceding, is honesty; — 
by which I mean the opposite of all worldly arti- 
fice. 

It is true, indeed, that mere sincerity does not 
constitute religion ; because a man may be very sin- 
cere in that which is very wrong ; nevertheless there 
is no religion without sincerity ; and while the gos- 
pel abounds in direct exhortations to cultivate it. 



126 ILECTURE V. 

the general tendency of the gospel is to form a per- 
fectly honest character. Now in accordance with 
this general feature of Christianity, every measure 
which is adopted for bringing sinners to repentance, 
ought to be marked by entire Christian sincerity. 
The maxim that the end justifies the means, has 
sometimes been adopted in this department of Chris- 
tian duty ; and there is reason to fear that ministers, 
and good ministers too, have acted under its influ- 
ence ; and instead of preaching God's truth in all its 
length and breadth, have selected some particular 
parts. of it to the exclusion of others, thus separat- 
ing things which God hath joined together ; and in- 
stead of preaching God's truth just as it is, they 
have made high-wrought and overstrained state- 
ments, which the Bible does not authorize ; and this 
they have done from a conviction that such state- 
ments are best adapted to produce powerful impres- 
sion, as if the word of God would be tame and 
powerless if it should come forth in its native sim- 
plicity. I confess I know not how to characterize 
this in juster terms, than that it is " handling God's 
word deceitfully." It were presumption in any one 
to suppose that God has revealed any thing which 
is not profitable, or that he has omitted any thing 
which is important. What God requires his mini- 
sters to do, is not to frame any thing new, or even 
to correct or revise his own word, but to dispense 
it just as they receive it at his hands : and if they 
do this, he will take care for consequences. But 
if they adopt any difierent course, they may fairly 



LECTURE V. 127 

expect that, in some way or other, the divine dis- 
pleasure will be visited upon their presumption. 

And what is true of the preaching of the word, 
is equally true of all other means for carrying for- 
ward a revival — they must all be characterized by 
Christian honesty ; — honesty as well towards God 
in whose service they are professedly employed, as 
towards the immortal souls whose salvation they 
are designed to effect. 

5. The last general characteristic which I shall 
notice of the means which God's word authorizes 
for promoting a revival, is affection. 

The gospel is pre-eminently a system of benevo- 
lence. The great object which it designs to accom- 
plish — ^viz. the redemption of sinners, is the most 
benevolent object for which the heart of man or an- 
gel ever beat. And it is directly fitted to form in 
man a spirit of benevolence. It enjoins the exer- 
cise of kindness and good will in all circumstances, 
and all relations. And surely if there be any occa- 
sion on which the tenderness which the gospel in- 
culcates ought to be exercised, it is in the efforts 
which are made to bring men to conviction and re- 
pentance ; in other words, to carry into effect the 
gracious purpose of God in their redemption. Wit- 
ness the exhibition of this spirit in the ministry of 
the holy Apostle, who, with all his firmness and en- 
ergy, (and no man ever had more,) was uniformly 
courteous and affectionate. Witness too, a greater 
than Paul — even our great model and Master ; — ob- 
serve the meekness and gentleness that character- 



\ 



128 LECTURE V. 

ized all his conduct ; listen to his pathetic excla- 
mation over the guilty city of Jerusalem, and to the 
inimitably tender petition which he offered in his 
last moments in behalf of his enemies and murderers ; 
— and then say whether the benevolent spirit which 
he inculcates in his instructions, does not shine forth 
with unparalleled brightness in his character ? But 
who does not know that all this is the exact oppo- 
site of what has sometimes appeared among ^the 
professed followers of Christ, even in their labors 
to advance his cause ? And who does not see that 
it conveys a pointed rebuke to all those ministra- 
tions which are characterized by unhallowed severi- 
ty; — to all addresses, whether public or private, 
designed to waken up the bad passions, and draw 
forth expressions of resentment ; — to every thing, 
in short, which is not according to the meekness and 
benevolence of the gospel ? 

Let no one suppose that I am pleading for a tem- 
porizing course, either as it respects ministers or pri- 
vate Christians ; or that I object to the use of great 
plainness of speech. I would have the naked sword 
of the Spirit brought directly in contact with the 
sinner's conscience. I would have no covering up, 
or softening down, of plain Bible truth. I would 
have the terrors of the invisible world, and the fear- 
ful depravity and doom of the sinner, held up in the 
same appalling terms in which they are represented 
in God's word. But never was there a greater mis- 
take than to suppose that all this may not consist 
with an affectionate and inoffensive manner. Let 



LECTURE V. 129 

the benevolent spirit of the gospel have its legiti- 
mate operation in a minister, and it will lead him 
to proclaim the most solemn and alarming truths 
with a tenderness which will be well fitted to open 
a passage for them to the heart. Let the same spi- 
rit possess the breast of a private Christian, and he 
too will earnestly exhort sinners to flee from the 
wrath to come ; but while he commends himself to 
their consciences on the one hand by his fidelity 
and honesty, he will ordinarily commend himself to 
their feelings of good will on the other by his kind- 
ness and affection. 

Having thus noticed some of the characteristics 
of those means which God's word authorizes in 
connection with a revival of religion, we are now 
prepared to inquire more particularly what those 
means are. We shall consider indiscriminately 
those which are of divine appointment, and those 
which are not. 

1. And the first we notice is, the faithful preaching 
of God's word. 

As divine truth is the instrument by which the 
work of sanctification is accomplished, so we have 
a right to expect its greatest influence, when it is 
wielded by means of an institution which God him- 
self has ordained. Accordingly we find that God 
honors the preaching of the gospel in the conver- 
sion of men more than all other means ; and if this 
institution were to be abolished, even though the 
Bible should still be left in the world, there is no rea- 
son to doubt that the great cause of moral renovation 

17 



130 LECTUREV. 

would be arrested, and a darkness that could be felt 
speedily settle over the earth. 

But in order that the preaching of the gospel may- 
exert its full influence, especially as a means of pro- 
moting revivals, it is necessary that the institution 
should be maintained in all respects agreeably to 
the design of its author. Particularly, it is es- 
sential that the great doctrines of the gospel should 
be distinctly and fairly exhibited ; in opposition to 
human philosophy on the one hand, and to mere 
exhortation on the other. I acknowledge that by 
earnest and impassioned addresses, in which there 
is little or nothing of God's truth, there may be 
produced a feverish excitement of the mind ; and 
that^ through the influence of sympathy, may be ex- 
tended over a congregation ; but if the great doc- 
trines of the Bible are not brought in contact with 
the conscience and the heart, I expect to look in 
vain for any thing like an intelligent conviction of 
sin ; much less for the peaceable fruits of righteous- 
ness. It is when the law of God is exhibited in all 
its extent and spirituality, and the gospel in all its 
grace and glory, that we may expect to see men 
brought to a sense of guilt, and believing on the 
Lord Jesus Christ that they may be saved. Other 
things being equal, you may calculate with confi- 
dence on the best effect of the preaching of the 
gospel, when its distinguishing doctrines are exhibi- 
ted with the greatest prominence. 

But then these doctrines must be held up in their 
practical bearings. They may be stated ever so 



LECTURE V. 131 

clearly, and defended ever so skilfully, in the form of 
abstract propositions, and yet all this will be to little 
purpose, unless men can be made to feel that they 
describe their own character, and condition, and re- 
lations, and prospects. When the law of God is 
exhibited, the aim should be to bring it home to 
every conscience as the standard of duty, and to 
make each one estimate his own character in view 
of it. When the doctrine of depravity is proclaim- 
ed, it should be in that spirit of direct and personal 
application, which is adapted to bring up before the 
sinner his own pollution and guilt. When the great 
doctrine of Christ's atonement is held up, it should 
be exhibited in its most practical relations, and 
brought directly in contact with the feelings of the 
heart, and urged as a rebuke to impenitence on the 
one hand, and an encouragement to exertion and a 
foundation of hope on the other. It is only when 
men are brought to contemplate the gospel as a prac- 
tical system, bearing directly on all the interests of 
both worlds, that it can become, in respect to them, 
the power of God unto salvation. 

Much also depends on the right adaptation of di- 
vine truth. In a season of revival especially, one 
of the most difficult duties which devolve upon a mi- 
nister is the selection of appropriate topics of pub- 
lic instruction. Suppose, at such a time, he were 
to bring before his people that fundamental truth in 
all religion — the existence of a God, and should at- 
tempt by a process of reasoning, to vindicate it 
against the objections of atheism ; or suppose he 



132 LECTURE V. 

were to discuss, in an elaborate manner, the histori- 
cal evidence of Christianity ; — this, in certain circum- 
stances, might be very proper ; but it would be ill 
adapted to guide inquiring souls to the Lord Jesus 
Christ ; or to prevent them from grieving away the 
Holy Spirit. It is obvious that the great peculiari- 
ties of the gospel should, in some form or other, at 
such a time, constitute the whole burden of a mi- 
nister's public instructions ; nevertheless there is 
great wisdom requisite to determine in what form, 
and in what combinations, these truths will be like- 
ly to come with the greatest power ; — what propor- 
tion of effort should be employed to alarm the care- 
less, to guide the inquiring, and to prove and esta- 
blish those who are hopefully born of the Spirit. 

In order to prepare the way under God for a re- 
vival of religion, it is proper that those truths should 
be urged with special prominence, which involve 
most directly the great subject of Christian obliga- 
tion ; and which are best fitted to awaken sluggish 
and backslidden professors to a sense of their duty; 
for so long as Christians remain asleep, it cannot 
be expected that sinners will be awake : so long as 
Christians do not pray, or pray only in a formal 
manner, there is little reason to hope that sinners 
will begin to inquire. And in the progress of a re- 
vival, the duties of Christians should still be frequent- 
ly pressed upon them, that they may not become 
weary in well doing; and the law should be pro- 
claimed with all its thunders, that there may be a 
constant waking up from the dreams of self securi- 



LECTURE V. 133 

ty among sinners ; and the gospel should be con- 
stantly exhibited, in all the richness and adaptation 
of its provision, and in the full extent of its condi- 
tions, that inquirers may not mistake the way to the 
fountain of atoning blood. I do not say indeed that 
God in his sovereignty may not work, and work 
powerfully, where his ministers fail exceedingly in 
rightly dividing the word of truth ; nevertheless, as 
the truth is the instrument by which he works, and 
as particular parts of it are adapted to particular 
ends, we have a right to conclude that when it is 
preached in its right adaptation, and with a judicious 
reference to circumstances, it will ordinarily be 
preached with the greatest effect. And, if I mis- 
take not, this remark is confirmed by the history of 
revivals. Wherever ministers have selected their 
subjects with the greatest wisdom, addressing diffe- 
rent classes with proper discrimination, and in due 
proportion, there have usually been witnessed the 
greatest displays of divine power, in the conviction 
and conversion of sinners, in the edification of 
Christians — in short, in a consistent and glorious re- 
vival of religion. 

I only add farther, under this article, that during 
a season of revival, a larger amount of public reli- 
gious instruction is demanded, than in ordinary cir- 
cumstances. For then there is a listening ear ; and 
the understanding and conscience are awake ; and 
the truth of God tells with mighty effect upon all 
the powers of the soul. Indeed men will hear the 
gospel preached at such a time ; and if they cannot 



134 LECTURE V. 

hear it in one city they will flee to another; and if 
they cannot hear it in its purity, take heed lest they 
should put themselves under the ministrations of 
some fanatic or heretic. And this demand for re- 
ligious instruction must be met ; — not indeed, in all 
cases, to the full extent; for it is possible, even in a 
revival, that public services may be multiplied to 
such a degree as to prevent their good effect ; and 
men under the influence of strong excitement are 
not always best qualified to judge ; — nevertheless, 
while there is room here for the exercise of wisdom, 
it admits not of question that the truth ought to be 
kept, so far as may be, constantly before the mind; 
and this is to be effected principally by means of 
public instruction. 

It has long been a practice in some parts of the 
church, and has recently become common in this 
country, to hold a succession of religious exercises 
through a period of several days. In respect to this 
measure, though I am aware that it is liable to great 
abuse, yet in itself considered, I confess that, in cer- 
tain circumstances, and with certain limitations, it 
seems to me unobjectionable. One principal rea- 
son why sinners are not converted, is, that the im- 
pression which the truth makes upon them in the 
house of God, yields almost instantly to the cares 
and levities of the world. Now then, if before this 
impression can have time to escape, it be followed 
up by another exhibition of truth, and another, there 
is reason to hope that it may become permanent ; 
and that the result may be a genuine conversion to 



LECTURE V. 135 

God: and this effect, it cannot be denied, is likely, 
in many cases, to be secured by a succession of se- 
veral public religious services. But while I am free 
to express my conviction that such a meeting may 
be — has been, an important means of good, I think 
it cannot be questioned that the benefit to result 
from it must depend greatly on the circumstances 
in which it is introduced, and the manner in which 
it is conducted. Let it be regarded as an extraor- 
dinary measure, not frequently to be repeated ; let 
it be held when the minds of a congregation are 
waking up to God's truth ; and let it be conducted 
with solemnity and decorum becoming the exerci- 
ses of the sanctuary on the Sabbath ; and I doubt 
not it may be rendered truly and even greatly sub- 
servient to a revival of religion. But on the other 
hand, let it be regarded as a common measure often 
to be repeated ; let it be held without any reference 
to the peculiar circumstances of a congregation, and 
especially let it be conducted with an irreverent dis- 
regard to the order of religious worship, or in a spi- 
rit of forwardness, or censoriousness, or fanati- 
cism ; and then it becomes a measure which the ad- 
versary wields with powerful effect against the pu- 
rity of revivals and the interests of the church. 

2. Another important means to be used in con- 
nection with a revival, is private and social prayer. 

It is in the closet especially that Christians must 
expect to get the flame of devotion enkindled ; and 
if the closet be neglected, whatever of a devotional 
frame they may suppose themselves to possess while 



136 LECTURE V. 

mingling in public exercises, they have great reason 
to suspect is the mere operation of sympathy or ani- 
mial feeling. And while that spirit of prayer in 
which a revival begins, usually originates in the clo- 
set, there the Christian may wrestle in behalf of 
Zion with as much earnestness as he will ; there he 
may pour out his whole soul in tears, and sighs, and 
broken petitions, and the ear on which his importu- 
nity falls will never be offended by it. There too 
he may bring before God the cases of his individual 
friends, and even plead for them by name, and men- 
tion minute circumstances of their condition, (which 
would be entirely inconsistent with the decorum of 
public worship,) and earnestly supplicate for them the 
convincing and renewing influences of the Spirit. 
It is probable that, during every true revival, the 
most fervent and effectual prayers that are offered, 
go up from the closet ; and are never heard by any 
other ear than that which hears in secret. 

But there should be much of social, as well as 
private prayer, connected with a revival. Much 
may be effected by the frequent meetings for this 
purpose of a few friends, whose hearts are closely 
joined together, who have a common interest not 
only in regard to the general cause, but in respect 
to particular individuals; and whose communings 
together serve to increase that interest, as well as 
to heighten in each other the spirit of earnest in- 
tercession. The record of these retired meetings, 
noiseless and unknown to the world, will, I have no 
doubt, show, at the last, that there was often mighty 



LECTURE V. 137 

energy there ; and that the Spirit made intercession 
with groanings which could not be uttered. And 
in larger circles too, God's people are often to meet, 
for the express purpose of supplicating the influen- 
ces of his Spirit; and though, on these occasions, the 
prayers must necessarily be more general, yet they 
should have direct reference to the advancement of 
God's work. And these prayers, instead of being 
offered in the spirit of formality, should be the deep 
and earnest longings of the soul ; should go up from 
hearts bathed with the reviving influences of the 
Holy Ghost. 

Prayer, as a means of grace, or a means of promo- 
ting revivals, is distinguished, in one respect, from 
every other : all other means are addressed imme- 
diately to men — this, directly to God. And all oth- 
ers are dependant in no small degree for their suc- 
cess on this ; for ministers and Christians may la- 
bor, no matter how faithfully, and it will be to no 
purpose without a divine influence ; and that influ- 
ence is to be secured only by prayer. — God has 
said that he will be " inquired of by the house of 
Israel to do it for them." Prayer then, let it never 
be forgotten, secures the blessing on every other 
means which the church employs. Prayer too may 
reach individuals whom the preaching of the gos- 
pel could never reach ; because they will not come 
within the sound of it. You may have irreligious 
friends to whom you dare not open your lips con- 
cerning their salvation; and yet you can go and 
pour out your whole soul before God in their be- 

18 



138 LECTURE V. 

half ; and that prayer, far aught you can say, may 
carry the Holy Spirit to their hearts to work a ge- 
nuine work of conversion. Believe me, Christians, 
you cannot, at any time, estimate prayer as a means 
of saving the souls of your fellow men too highly. 
Though it cannot take the place of other means, it 
is that without which all others would be utterly in 
vain ; and besides it has a direct influence, the ex- 
tent of which it is impossible fully to estimate. — 
Therefore, Brethren, pray without ceasing. 

3. Much is to be done in producing and sustain- 
ing a revival by means of conversation. 

This is a duty which devolves not only upon the 
minister and other officers of the church, but upon 
all private Christians according to their ability. And 
it is a duty which may be performed in a great va- 
riety of circumstances. There maybe frequent op- 
portunities for it in the common intercourse of life ; 
and no doubt a suitable degree of attention would 
discover many opportunities which are suffered to 
pass without observation. But this is a duty which, 
especially in a season of revival, should hold a dis- 
tinct and prominent place among Christian duties ; 
and should not be left to the control of any contin- 
gency. There should be, so far as possible, a re- 
gular system of visiting, especially on the part of 
church officers ; with a view to alarm, to direct, or 
to quicken, according to the circumstances of each 
individual with whom they may converse. 

It belongs to Christians on these occasions to stir 
up the minds of each other ; to endeavor to make 



LECTURE V. 139 

each other feel more deeply their responsibility, and 
the value of the souls around them, and the danger 
of their being lost : and if there be among their num- 
ber any who are sluggish, and disposed to excuse 
themselves from coming up to the help of the Lord, 
they are to be entreated affectionately, yet earnest- 
ly, to shake off their apathy, and give themselves 
actively to the great work. And while Christians are 
to be faithful in their conversation with each other, — 
to encourage, to arouse, to quicken, so also are they 
to be faithful in warning the wicked of his wicked 
way, and in endeavoring to open his eyes on the 
destruction that threatens him. And those whose 
consciences are awake they are to press with the 
obligation of immediate repentance ; explaining to 
them, if need be, the terms of the gospel, and en- 
deavoring to lead them without delay to the cross 
of Christ. They have an important duty to per- 
form also in respect to those who have professedly 
come out of darkness into light ; in assisting to de- 
tect false hopes and confirm good hopes; to guard 
against temptation, and establish principles of holy 
living, and form plans for future usefulness. Many 
a Christian has had occasion, through his whole re- 
ligious life, to reflect that much of his usefulness 
and much of his happiness, was to be referred un- 
der God, to an unreserved intimacy, or perhaps to a 
single conversation, with some judicious Christian 
friend, at that critical moment subsequent to his 
conversion, when he was adopting principles for the 
regulation of his conduct. 



140 LECTURE V. 

You will not understand me here as recommend- 
ing that every one should assume the office of a re- 
ligious teacher; or that all Christians indiscrimi- 
nately should take it upon them to give particular 
counsels and directions to the awakened sinner. — 
The general direction to exercise repentance to- 
ward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it may 
come within the scope even of the humblest intelli- 
gence, to give ; but to counsel an inquiring sinner 
aright sometimes becomes an exceedingly delicate 
and difficult duty, and may well put in requisition the 
experience and wisdom of the most advanced and ju- 
dicious Christians : and the assumption of this office 
by those who are inadequate to it, it is easy to see, 
must greatly jeopardize the souls of men. While 
therefore, every Christian, however circumscribed 
his field, or however limited his attainments, has 
something to do, by his conversation, in helping 
forward God's work, let every one take heed that 
he attempt nothing in this way which his knowledge 
or experience will not justify. 

4. Another important means for producing and 
sustaining a revival is Sabbath school and Bible class 
instruction. 

As the work of sanctification is begun and carri- 
ed forward by means of the truth, it is manifest that 
the greater the degree of truth that is lodged in the 
mind, the greater the probability, other things being 
equal, that the individual will become a subject of 
conversion. And as the mind is far more easily 
impressed and directed in the period of childhood 



LECTURE V. 141 

and youth, than after it has reached maturity and 
its habits have become fixed, so it is in the morning of 
life that the truth is hkely to exert its greatest influ- 
ence. Now then, as it is the design of the Sabbath 
school to throw the light of truth into the mind, 
and into the youthful mind ; in other words to wield 
the great instrument of moral renovation in circum- 
stances most favorable to its success, it cannot be 
doubted that this institution is a most powerful aux- 
iliary to the cause of revivals. A child who could 
gain but little from the ordinary instructions of the 
pulpit, in consequence of their exceeding his capa- 
city, may, from the more simple and familiar in- 
structions of the Sabbath school, be learning at 
least the elements of Bible truth ; and at a very early 
period, no one can say how early, may have truth 
enough in his mind for the Spirit to use in the sanc- 
tification of his heart. 

But there is a still more direct influence exerted 
by Sabbath schools in favor of revivals. It ought 
to be, and we doubt not, is, to a great extent, regard- 
ed as the duty of every teacher, not merely to en- 
lighten the understanding, but to impress divine truth 
upon the heart and conscience of each of his pu- 
pils ; aiming at nothing short of a thorough moral 
renovation. Here is the best possible opportunity 
for the teacher to find his way to the heart. If, in 
the intercourse which he holds with his pupils, he 
is amiable and conciliatory, he will almost of course 
secure their confidence ; and this is a most impor- 
tant preparation for their listening to him with at- 



142 LECTURE V. 

tention and profit. And then let him, from time to 
time, commune faithfully with their consciences ; 
let him show them how the truths which he incul- 
cates involve their interests and destiny for eternity; 
let him press them frequently with those considera- 
tions which are most fitted to make them feel that 
religion is the one thing needful, and that there is 
no apology for neglecting it. Let him carefully 
watch every serious impression, following it up by 
suitable admonitions and counsels ; and finally let 
him bear the interests of these children before the 
throne of the heavenly grace ; and he has good 
reason to expect that such instrumentality will be 
honored in saving souls from death. It is familiar 
to you all that the records of Sabbath schools and 
the records of revivals are to a great extent identi- 
fied ; that the noblest triumphs of God's grace have 
often been found in these nurseries of knowledge, 
virtue and piety. 

There is another point of view in which the 
influence of Sabbath schools on revivals appears 
most desirable — I refer to the fact that they con- 
tribute to their purity. One principal reason why 
revivals are sometimes corrupted is, that there 
is so much ignorance and error at work in the midst 
of them ; and every one knows that this is the na- 
tural food of fanaticism. Let the Sabbath school 
exert its proper influence in imbuing the minds of 
children with a knowledge of God's word, and in 
establishing them in the great principles of the gos- 
pel, and it will constitute the best security against 



LECTURE V. 143 

those false and fanatical notions which tend so di- 
rectly to fatal self-deception. Let God's Spirit be 
poured out upon a community well instructed in the 
truths of the gospel, and the happiest results may 
confidently be expected ; for here is the natural pre- 
paration for a revival on the one hand, and the best 
pledge against all perversion and abuse on the 
other. 

The remarks which have been made in respect to 
Sabbath schools, apply, in general, with equal force, 
to Bible classes. Indeed, the latter may, in one 
point of view, be considered as more intimately con- 
nected with revivals than the former ; inasmuch as 
those who attend them are usually somewhat more 
advanced, and of course more capable of understand- 
ing and improving doctrinal instruction. Hence, 
revivals have perhaps, of late, more frequently com- 
menced in Bible classes than any where else ; and 
not a few instances have occurred, in which all or 
nearly all the members of a class have become 
hopefully the subjects of renewing grace ; while the 
work, which had its beginning here, has extended 
on the right hand and on the left, till multitudes have 
experienced its quickening and renovating influ- 
ence. 

5. The faithful discharge oi parental duty, is ano- 
ther important means of promoting a revival. 

There is no human influence ever exerted in form- 
ing the character, more decisive, whether for good 
or evil, than that of parents ; and if it be a well di- 
rected religious influence, we have a right to expect, 



144 LECTURE V. 

both from the nature of the case and from actual 
experience, that it will secure the happiest results. 
Let a parent train up his children in the way which 
the Bible prescribes ; let him faithfully instruct them 
in the truths of God's word as soon as they are ca- 
pable of being taught ; let him render his instruc- 
tions as familiar and practical as possible, mingling 
with them appropriate counsels and admonitions ; 
and let him pray with them, and for them, and teach 
them to pray for themselves ; and if all this is not 
inmiediately instrumental of their conversion, it will, 
at least in all ordinary cases, render them peculiarly 
promising candidates for converting grace ; will be 
a happy preparation for the effectual work of God's 
Holy Spirit. 

I know it has been sometimes said that the sub- 
jects of revivals are most commonly selected from 
the haunts of open irreligion and profligacy ; while 
those who have been educated under the benign in- 
fluences of Christian instruction and example, more 
commonly remain entrenched in a habit of mere 
morality and self-righteousness. But I appeal to 
the whole history of revivals for evidence that this 
is not so. I know, indeed, that God glorifies his 
sovereignty, by extending his renewing grace to 
some who would seem to be at the greatest distance 
from him; but as a general rule, he puts direct and 
visible honor upon his own institutions, by bringing 
those to experience the sanctifying influence of his 
truth, who have been in the way of hearing and 
studying it. If it be asked, whence come the great- 



LECTURE V. 145 

er number of the subjects of our revivals, we an- 
svrer, from our Sabbath schools, and Bible classes, 
and from families in which the parental influence is 
decidedly religious ; and the reason why some have 
held a different opinion, is, that when a profligate 
or an infidel is hopefully converted, it excites much 
attention and remark ; and thus the number of such 
conversions is frequently estimated far higher than 
it should be. Go into any place you will, where the 
Holy Spirit has been extensively and powerfully at 
work, and you will find that the families which have 
been specially blessed, are those in which God has 
been honored by the faithful discharge of parental 
duty, and the general influence of Christian exam- 
ple ; while only here and there one is taken from 
those families in which there is no parental restraint, 
nor instruction, nor prayer ; and in which, as a na- 
tural consequence, the youthful mind is pre-occu- 
pied with sentiments and feelings most unfriendly 
to the work of the Holy Spirit. 

It deserves also to be remarked that much de- 
volves upon Christian parents in immediately sus- 
taining and carrying forward a revival. If they 
see their children, at such a time, manifesting an 
indifference to the things of religion, they are to 
press them most earnestly and aflfectionately with 
its obligations. If they see in them the least anxi- 
ety, they are to endeavor by every means, to che- 
rish it, and put them on their guard against griev- 
ing away the Holy Spirit, and take them by the 
hand, and lead them, if possible, to the Lamb of 

19 



146 LECTURE V. 

God. If they see them rejoicing in the hope that 
their sins are forgiven, they are to aid them by les- 
sons from God's word and their own experience, to 
ascertain the true character of their rehgious exer- 
cises, and to avoid the hope of the hypocrite. It 
is a reproach to many Christian parents, that they 
suffer a false delicacy to prevail against the faithful 
discharge of their duty in these most interesting 
circumstances. As God has constituted them the 
guardians of their children, it devolves upon them to 
be especially watchful in respect to their immortal 
interests ; and never is neglect more culpable, than 
when the Holy Spirit is offering to co-operate with 
them to secure their children's salvation. 

6. The last means for promoting a revival which 
I shall notice, is, an exercise designed particularly 
for awakened sinners. 

It is generally admitted, I believe, by those who 
are friendly to revivals, that there should be some 
occasion on which persons of this class should be 
distinctly addressed ; and which, by bringing them 
together as inquiring souls, may serve in a measure 
to get them over their indecision, and commit them 
to a course of successful striving to enter in at the 
straight gate ; though special care should be taken 
that this act of commitment is not perverted to yield 
aliment to a self-righteous spirit. What the precise 
character of this exercise should be, you are aware, 
is a point in relation to which there is a diversity of 
opinion. I confess the result of my own reflection 
and observation on this subject, has been a convic- 



LECTURE V. 147 

tion that no better course could be adopted, than 
that with which you, as a congregation, are already 
familiar. At the close of a public service in which 
God's truth has been exhibited and enforced, let 
those who have been impressed by it, and who wish 
to have their impressions deepened, and to be in- 
structed in reference to their duty and salvation, be 
requested to remain after the rest of the assembly 
have retired. And then let the minister, or some 
other competent person, address them earnestly and 
affectionately in reference to their peculiar condi- 
tion ; connecting with the address one or more 
prayers; and afterwards, so far as circumstances 
may admit, or occasion require, let them be met in 
a more private way, and let the particular state of 
each mind be ascertained ; and let each receive ap- 
propriate counsel and instruction. In all this there 
is nothing ostentatious, nothing which peculiarly 
exposes to self-deception, while yet the individual 
commits himself as truly as he could by any more 
public act, to cherish his serious impressions, and 
places himself in a condition in which the prayers 
of Christians, and scriptural instruction and coun- 
sel, are effectually secured to him. I do not say 
that some different course may not appeal more 
strongly to the passions ; but I confess that I know of 
none which seems to me better adapted to impress 
upon the conscience and heart Bible truth; and 
thus subserve a genuine revival of religion.* 



* From the experience I have had on this subject, I am inclined to think 
that this mode of treating inquirers is to be preferred to that which has been 



148 LECTURE V. 

With two or three remarks, by way of inference, 
we shall conclude the discourse. 

1. Our subject may assist us to form a correct 
judgment of any particular measures^ which may he 
proposed in connection with a revival. 

There may be danger on this subject of erring on 
the right hand, and on the left. It is wrong to de- 
cide against any particular measure merely because 
it is new ; and it is equally wrong to adopt it merely 
because it is new. It would be strange when the 
invention of the church is so constantly in exercise, 
if there should not be some new things connected 
with religion which are good ; and it would be 
strange in view of the waywardness and extrava- 
gance that pertain to human nature, if there should 
not be others of evil tendency. Here, then, is an 
argument for our examining carefully every mea- 
sure or course of measures that is proposed to us, 
and referring it to the proper standard. If it will 
abide that standard, it were an unworthy prejudice 
not to adopt it. If it will not abide that standard, 
to adopt it were at once a weakness and a sin. It 
were to refuse the privilege which God has given us 
of judging for ourselves what is right. 

common, and which I have myself formerly adopted — of holding a meeting of 
a more public nature for the express purpose of inquiry. It is no doubt of 
great importance that an opportunity for inquiry should be given ; but the 
more private, other things being equal, the better. In an extensive revival of 
religion, however, especially where the burden of conducting it devolves chiefly 
on a single individual, it may sometimes be a matter of necessity for him to 
meet a greater number of inquirers at a time than would otherwise be desira- 
ble. 



LECTURE V. 149 

If you will know then whether it is safe and pro- 
per to adopt any particular measures in connection 
with revivals, which may be comparatively new in 
the church, bring them to the test which has been 
presented in the former part of this discourse. Are 
they characterized by seriousness ; by the entire 
absence of every thing that approaches to levity ? 
Are they marked by that order, and decorum, and 
reverence, which God requires in every thing con- 
nected with his worship ? Is there the absence of 
all ostentation, of all pious fraud, of all unhallowed 
severity ; and is there godly simplicity, and Chris- 
tian honesty, and sincere affection ? If these be 
the characteristics of the measures proposed, then 
you may safely adopt them ; but if any of these 
characteristics are wanting, they are not in accord- 
ance with the spirit of the gospel, and you cannot 
consistently, in any way, give them your sanction. 

But it may be asked whether there is not a much 
better test than this ; whether the effect produced 
by particular measures does not more clearly deter- 
mine their character ? I answer, if the entire and ul- 
timate effect be intended, the standard which it fur- 
nishes will always be in consistency with that to 
which we have just referred ; though it must after 
all furnish an inadequate rule for judging ; for in 
many cases at least, it is so general in its charac- 
ter that it is not easy to be traced. If only the imme- 
diate and partial effect be intended, then I insist that 
this is no standard at all ; for it admits not of ques- 
tion that there may be a violent religious excitement 



150 LECTURE V. 

which, at the moment, may seem to many to be do- 
ing good, which, nevertheless, may pass over hke a 
hurricane in the natural world, marking its course 
with the wrecks even of God's own institutions. — 
Judge not then by this uncertain standard. If you 
are to judge of any great change by effects, you 
must wait till they are fully developed, till you can 
see not only the more immediate but the more remote 
effects ; the latter of which are often the most impor- 
tant; and these are usually developed gradually. 
Hold fast then to the law and the testimony as your 
rule of judging ; and as, in so doing, you will ho- 
nor God most, so you will be most likely to be kept 
out of the mazes of error. 

2. Our subject may assist us to discover the causes 
of the decline of a revivaL 

I admit that there is more or less of sovereignty 
here ; /and that the Spirit of God operates whenever 
and wherever, in infinite wisdom, he pleases. I ac- 
knowledge too that the strong excitement which of- 
ten attends a revival cannot, so far as respects the 
same individuals, be kept up for a long time ; nor is 
it at all essential, or even desirable, that it should be. 
But so far as a healthful and vigorous state of re- 
ligious feeling is concerned on the part of Chris- 
tians, and I may add, in view of the promises of 
God to answer prayer, so far as the conversion of 
sinners is concerned, it is not irreverent to say that 
while he is himself the great agent, he commits his 
work in an important sense, into the hands of his 
people ; and if it decline, there is blame resting upon 



LECTURE V. 151 

them. It is because they have grown weary in their 
suppUcations, or because they have relaxed in the 
use of some other of the means which he has put 
within their reach. Let Christians then tremble in 
view of their responsibility; and when God is send- 
ing down his Spirit to work with them, let them 
take heed that they render a hearty and persevering 
co-operation. Let them take heed that they grieve 
not this divine agent to depart either from their 
own souls, lest they should be given up to barren- 
ness ; or from the souls of inquiring sinners, lest 
there should fall upon them the curse of reproba- 
tion. 

3. Once more : How great is the privilege and the 
honor which Christians enjoy ^ of being permitted to co- 
operate with God in carrying forward his work. 

When you are laboring for the salvation of sin- 
ners around you, when you are using the various 
means which God has put into your hands to waken 
them to conviction and bring them to repentance, 
you are laboring in the very cause which is identi- 
fied with the success and the glory of Christ's me- 
diation. Nay, you are a fellow worker with the 
Holy Ghost ; and while he honors your efforts with 
his saving blessing, they are set down to your ac- 
count in the book of God's remembrance. Yes, 
Christian, all that you do in this cause brings glory 
to God in the highest, contributes to brighten your 
immortal crown, and subserves the great cause of 
man's salvation. What remains then but that you 
take these considerations to your heart as so many 



152 LECTURE V. 

arguments, to labor in this holy cause with more 
untiring zeal, with more holy fidelity ? Is it a cause 
that demands sacrifices ? You can well aflbrd to 
make them, for it brings happiness, and glory, and 
honor in its train. Let it be seen on earth, and let 
the angels report it in heaven, that you are co-work- 
ers with God, in giving efiect to the purposes of his 
grace, and in training up immortal souls for the glo- 
ries of his kingdom. 



LECTURE VI. 

TREATMENT DUE TO AWAKENED SINNERS. 



Acts hi. 19. 
Repent ye therefore, and be converted. 

There is scarcely a period of so much interest in 
the hfe of an individual, as that in which he is 
brought to earnest inquiry respecting the salvation 
of his soul. It is a state of mind which comes be- 
tween the utter neglect of religion and the actual 
possession of it. The dream of thoughtlessness is 
disturbed. Conscience wakes to its office as an 
accuser. This world holds the soul with an enfee- 
bled grasp, and the realities of another weigh upon 
it with deep and awful impression. But then, on the 
other hand, there is as yet no submission to the 
terms of the gospel ; — no melting down in penitence 
at the feet of mercy; — no yielding up of the heart 
to God ; — no thankful, cordial acceptance of Christ 
and his salvation. But between these two states of 
mind there is no uniform connection ; for though 
conviction is essential to conversion, yet the sinner 
who is only convinced, may, instead of being con- 

20 



154 LECTURE VI. 

verted, return to the world, and thus his last state 
be worse than his first. It is reasonable to suppose, 
in any given case of conviction, that the sinner who 
is the subject of it, is on the eve of having his desti- 
ny decided for eternity : for if he press forward, he 
secures his salvation ; but if he linger and fall back, 
there is, to say the least, an awful uncertainty whe- 
ther he is ever again the subject of an awakening 
influence. 

Now you will readily perceive that it is a most 
responsible office to counsel and direct an individual 
in these interesting circumstances. The mind is in 
a state to be most easily influenced ; and influenced 
on a subject that involves all the interests of eterni- 
ty : there is a sort of balancing of the soul between 
religion and the world, between heaven and hell ; 
and no one can be certain that the weight of a sin- 
gle remark may not turn the scale one way or the 
other. Of what vast importance is it that all the 
suggestions and counsels that are offered at such a 
time should be scriptural — seasonable — ^the very in- 
structions of the Holy Ghost. 

But if it be a responsible office for an individual 
to direct a single inquiring sinner, what shall be 
said of the responsibility of the church during a re- 
vival of religion ; in which there are many, on eve- 
ry side, pressing the inquiry, ' what they shall do to 
be saved ?' And how important is it that members of 
the church should be so enlightened as to be safe 
guides on this momentous subject; that thus they 
may never put in still greater jeopardy the interests 



LECTURE VI. 155 

of those whom they attempt to direct. A large part 
of the conduct of a revival consists in counselling 
THE AWAKENED ; and on the manner in which this 
duty is performed, as much as any thing, depend 
both the character of the work and its results. It 
is proper, therefore, that in a series of discourses 
like the present, this should be made a distinct and 
prominent topic ; and this is what I am about to 
bring before you for our present exercise. 

The direction which the Apostle in our text gives 
to the Jews — that they should repent and be con- 
verted — is applicable to sinners of every description ; 
and especially to those who are in any measure 
awakened. It is proper to direct every inquiring 
sinner to repent and turn to God in a way of holy 
obedience ; and this may be considered an epitome 
of all appropriate teaching in such circumstances : 
nevertheless this direction is to be given in a varie- 
ty of forms, adapted to a diversity of cases, and ac- 
companied with many cautions and admonitions. 
My design will be, 

I. To consider m general the treatment due to an 
awakened sinner : and 

II. To contemplate some of the most prominent ca- 
ses which require more special counsel and instruction. 

I. I am to present before you the general course 
proper to he taken with an awakened sinner. 

When a person in these circumstances comes to 
ask your counsel, the first thing you have to deter- 
mine is, what is his amount of knowledge^ and his 
amount of feeling. 



156 LECTURE VI. 

It is possible that he may have much feeling, and 
little knowledge. He may have learned so much 
of God's law, as to have wakened up his conscience, 
and brought him to a sense of danger, and made 
him tremble in anticipation of a fearful hell. But 
his knowledge even of the law may be very limited ; 
and how to secure the forgiveness of his sins, and 
an escape from the tremendous doom that threatens 
him, he may be utterly ignorant ? Of the nature of 
the gospel salvation, of the conditions on which it 
is offered, of the repentance of sin, of the faith in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, of the life of holy obedience, 
he may know almost literally nothing. Possibly 
his habits of life may have rendered him a voluntary 
exile from the means of religious knowledge ; but 
it is by no means certain that he may not have been 
a regular attendant on Christian institutions ; for 
facts prove that it is possible for an individual to sit 
under the faithful preaching of the gospel during a 
long life, and yet to hear with such entire inatten- 
tion, that there is gained no distinct knowledge of 
any one of the doctrines of the Bible. Yes, it has 
often happened in respect to men of general intelh- 
gence, and high worldly consideration, that when 
they have been awakened, they have themselves ac- 
knowledged that they were entirely ignorant of Bible 
truth ; and with all their talents, and learning, and 
maturity, have had to begin at the very alphabet of 
the gospel. Now wherever you discover in an anx- 
ious sinner such gross ignorance, whether he be a 
man of high or low degree, your first business 



LECTURE VI. 157 

should be to mstruct him. And let your instruc- 
tions be characterized by the utmost plainness ; 
for a mind to which the subject of religion is 
in a great degree new, (no matter how familiar it 
may be with other subjects,) will find it difficult to 
apprehend the truth, unless it is presented in its 
most simple form. Teach him what God has done 
for his salvation ; and what God requires him to do ; 
and the reasonableness of that requirement; and 
the necessity of its being complied with. It may 
be necessary, in some cases, that these things should 
be presented in different forms, and by a succession 
of efforts, before they come to be fairly understood : 
nevertheless, it were wrong to withhold any thing 
that is essential to salvation, on the ground that the 
mind is not thoroughly enlightened in all those truths 
which have the precedence in the order of nature ; 
for if you leave an awakened sinner without having 
set Christ distinctly before him, as the only founda- 
tion of hope, and without having taught him in what 
manner the benefits of redemption may be secured, 
before you see him again, he may have been brought 
to a stand by not knowing what to do, and may have 
actually settled down with a determination that he 
will do nothing. Or else your next meeting with 
him may be at the judgment ; and you may be com- 
pelled to reflect that the last opportunity which was 
enjoyed on earth of directing him to the cross of 
Christ, you enjoyed, but neglected. 

It is possible, on the other hand, that you may 
find a good degree of knowledge, and comparatively 



158 LECTURE VI. 

little feeling. There may even be a correct and in- 
telligent view of all the evidence and doctrines of 
the gospel, which has resulted from laborious, criti- 
cal and long continued examination ; — there may be 
an ability rarely to be met with to confound skep- 
tics and gainsayers ; and yet the impression of di- 
vine truth may be feeble, and the conscience only 
partially awake. There may be conviction enough 
to bring the sinner to you for counsel, when there 
is not enough to bring him to Christ for salvation. 
In this case, your duty manifestly is, to endeavor to 
impress more deeply upon his mind the truths which 
he understands and admits; to bring him to exa- 
mine his heart more closely by the searching light of 
God's law ; and to look at every doctrine in its 
practical bearings in connection with his own cha- 
racter and destiny. The amount of conviction ne- 
cessary to conversion may vary in different cases, 
according to the character of the mind, and its pre- 
vious opportunities for acquiring religious know- 
ledge ; but conviction there must be in every case ; 
and wherever it is feeble and wavering, it is fair to 
presume that something more is necessary in this 
way in order to bring the soul to rest upon its Sa- 
viour. 

The awakened sinner may be benefitted by some 
such counsels and cautions as the following : — 

Let him be admonished, first of all, that the duty 
of devoting himself to God by a compliance with the 
terms of the gospel, is of immediate obligation ; and 
that he is guilty, and becoming more and more guilty, 



LECTURE VI. 159 

in the neglect of it. For is not this duty reasonable? 
Is it not due to God as a Creator, as a Preserver, 
and especially as a Redeemer, that every human 
being should love him with all his affections, and 
serve him to the extent of his powers ? And if the 
sinner has never done this hitherto, nay if he has 
never ceased from a course of rebellion against 
God, and has not performed a single act from a re- 
gard to his authority, surely it is reasonable that he 
should change his course without delay ; that he 
should at once wake, not only to a sense, but to a 
performance, of the duties which God requires of 
him. Would it be right that a child who had bro- 
ken away from parental restraints, and set at naught 
parental love, when pressed to submit to a father's 
authority, and return to a father's arms, should 
plead that he had not wounded and insulted that fa- 
ther as long as he wished ; and that though he felt 
the obligation to yield, yet he did not consider it as 
binding him to do so immediately? Would it be 
right for a rebel, when urged to throw down arms 
against a wise and benevolent sovereign, to ac- 
knowledge the reasonableness of the requisition for 
a future day, but to deny it in respect to the pre- 
sent? Let not the sinner then dream that he has any 
excuse for continuing unreconciled to God for an 
hour. Press him with the obligation of immediate 
repentance, and faith, and submission to God. En- 
deavor to make him feel that apart from all conside- 
rations of personal interest, this is a duty which he 
owes to God, and which ought to press upon him 



160 LECTURE VI. 

with the weight of a mountain, until he has discharg- 
ed it. 

Let the awakened sinner be admonished farther 
that the present is the best time for securing his souVs 
salvation. For then there are facihties for becom- 
ing rehgious which do not exist at any other peri- 
od. Supposing him, as I here do, to be in the midst 
of a revival, there is an energy and efficiency in all 
the means of grace which is, to a great extent, pe- 
culiar to such a scene. Ministers are encouraged 
to preach with unaccustomed earnestness, and are 
enabled to bring out the truth of God with great pun- 
gency and effect. Christians too pray with unwont- 
ed fervor, and converse with peculiar fidelity; and 
there is the current of example setting strongly in 
favor of religion ; and the very atmosphere around 
seems to be pervaded by deep solemnity; and with 
all this the sinner's own attention is awake ; and 
the Holy Spirit is striving with him to bring him to 
repentance. Let him be inquired of what circum- 
stances can exist more favorable to his conversion 
than now exist. Let him be reminded that he has 
no reason to expect that such an assemblage of cir- 
cumstances will again occur in the course of his 
life ; and that even if they should, the same dispo- 
sition which would lead him to resist the Spirit now, 
might lead him to resist it then. Dwell upon the 
appalling fact, that trifling with divine influences 
must serve greatly to harden the heart ; and that if 
he return to the world from the point which he has 
now gained, he will in all probability, go back to a 



LECTURE VI. 161 

point of obduracy at which he will be left, without 
any farther divine interposition, to take his own 
way down to the chambers of eternal death. 

Admonish him, farther, that he is in danger, from 
various causes, of losing his serious impressions. This 
is a point in relation to which he may not improba- 
bly think himself safe ; and though he may not be 
able to anticipate any favorable result of his con- 
victions, yet so pungent and overwhelming are they, 
that he cannot realize that there is any danger of 
their leaving him. But even the strongest religious 
impressions are sometimes driven away from the 
soul almost in an hour ; though in general the pro- 
cess is a gradual and almost imperceptible one. Ad- 
monish him to beware of the levities of the world ; 
for one light conversation with a careless friend, 
may change decisively the current of his thoughts. 
Guard him against the influence of worldly care — 
even of his necessary daily employments ; for any 
thing of a mere worldly nature that occupies the 
mind, is liable to turn it off from the great subject 
of salvation. Caution him, also, against yielding 
to a false shame ; for this cannot long prevail with- 
out grieving away the Holy Spirit. Urge upon him 
the importance of holding God's truth to his mind 
as constantly as possible, that thus the impressions 
which have already been made by it, may have no 
opportunity to escape. And to give the greatest 
effect to all these cautions, point him to examples 
in the way of illustrating them ; and let him know 
that there are multitudes now in the ranks of profli- 

21 



162 LECTURE VI. 

gacy and infidelity, who once even trembled under 
the avi^akening influences of God's Spirit. In view 
of the tremendous evil which must result from the 
departure of this divine agent from the soul on the 
one hand, and of the ease with which he maybe griev- 
ed away on the other, you are to ring a monitory peal 
in the ear of the awakened sinner, adapted to make 
him cherish his impressions with the most watchful 
diligence. 

And then, again, you are to put him on his guard 
against seeking salvation in a spirit of self-righteous- 
ness. There is no natural predilection in man 
for the gospel plan of salvation : on the con- 
trary, there is a strong original bias in favor of be- 
ing saved by the deeds of the law ; though unhap- 
pily there is no disposition to perform the deeds 
which the law requires. Hence the sinner, when 
he is first awakened, almost always puts himself 
upon a course of self-righteous effort ; and practi- 
cally asks with the young man in the gospel, " what 
good thing he shall do that he may inherit eternal 
life." He forthwith begins an attendance upon all 
the means of grace, if he has neglected them be- 
fore, or if he has been accustomed to attend upon 
them, he does it now with an increased degree of se- 
riousness. He listens attentively to God's word ; is 
found in the meeting for social prayer, and religious 
conference ; passes much time in his closet, and in 
conversing with Christian friends : and in short, 
aims to perform externally every duty which God 
requires of him. And in all this the secret feehng of 



LECTURE VI. ' 163 

his heart is, even though he may not always be sen- 
sible of it, that he is performing something meritori- 
ous, which will catch and please the eye of God, and 
cause his name to be enrolled in the Lamb's book 
of life. Now it devolves upon you carefully to 
guard him against this error ; for so long as it is 
retained, it must be an effectual barrier to a com- 
pliance with the terms of the gospel. Do not dis- 
courage him from striving ; but admonish him to 
strive in the spirit of the new covenant, and not of 
the old. Tell him that there is no merit in any of 
his striving, and that he can never be saved till he 
becomes convinced of this, and falls down helpless 
at the feet of mercy, and is willing to accept of sal- 
vation as the free gift of God through Christ, with- 
out any respect to his own deservings. The mis- 
take to which I here refer may be made by those 
who speculatively understand the way of salvation, 
as well as those who do not ; and the only means 
by which it is discovered, is faithful communion 
with one's own heart. To the duty of self-com- 
munion then, with special reference to this point, 
every inquiring sinner should be earnestly exhorted. 
Counsel him, moreover, to beware of making 
comfort rather than duty an ultimate end, A state 
of conviction is a state of anxiety and alarm, and 
of course unhappiness. As the sinner, from the 
very constitution of his nature, desires happiness, 
it is not strange that in the agony of conviction he 
should often fasten his eye upon that as an ultimate 
object ; though nothing is more certain than that, 



164 LECTURE VI. 

SO long as he pursues it as such, true rehgious com- 
fort will never be attained. In doing this, he places 
himself before God merely as a sufferer desiring to 
be relieved from distress ; whereas, the attitude 
which he ought to assume is that of a guilty offend- 
er, acknowledging and forsaking his evil courses, 
and turning unto the Lord. What God requires of 
him is the discharge of duty ; — repentance, faith, 
obedience ; and in this way only has he a right ei- 
ther to seek or to expect comfort. He is to regard 
himself first as a sinner, and then as a sufferer : if 
he repent of his sins he has reason to expect relief 
from his sufferings ; but if he hold fast his sins, 
how much soever he may supplicate God's mercy, 
he will either experience no relief or none which 
he ought to desire. He must understand that it 
is the economy of God's grace that true Chris- 
tian comfort can never be gained except as it is 
made a secondary consideration. He must keep 
his eye constantly fixed on duty : he must stir him- 
self up to do what God requires of him ; and God 
will take care that he is no stranger to the joys of 
his salvation. 

It may be well to caution him also against seeking 
aid from too many advisers ; especially where their re- 
ligious views do not harmonize. There are among 
Christians, we all know, shades of difference in their 
views of the truths of the gospel ; and though they 
all hold the Head, and recognize each other as 
members of the same family, yet on some minor 
points they do not speak the same language ; and 






LECTURE VI. 165 

indeed, though the real difference may not be great, 
yet they may differ in their phraseology even in re- 
spect to the essentials of religion ; and may be ac- 
customed to contemplate these great truths in dif- 
ferent relations and combinations. The conse- 
quence of this may be that several persons who are 
really agreed on all fundamental doctrines, may 
counsel an awakened sinner, each in his own way, 
and each substantially in the right way ; and yet 
there may be, after all, to his apprehension a disa- 
greement, which may be the source of much pain- 
ful perplexity. His mind will be liable to become 
confused by the variety of directions which he re- 
ceives ; and will be far less likely to profit by any, 
than if this confusion had been avoided. It were 
better for the awakened sinner that he should have 
a single judicious counsellor, or at the extent a few 
such, than to be soliciting or receiving the advice 
of every one indiscriminately. 

I add, once more, that he should be advised to 
pass much of his time in the closet. It is proper, in- 
deed, that he should avail himself of frequent op- 
portunities to hear the preaching of God's word ; 
and that he should mingle in the social prayer meet- 
ing ; and should receive appropriate counsels and 
instructions from Christian friends ; but this can 
never take the place of private meditation and self- 
communion. The searching and probing of his 
own heart, and the recollection of his sins, is a work 
peculiarly for the closet ; because there the mind 
is least likely to be diverted by external objects and 



166 LECTURE VI. 

circumstances. I know there is a strong tendency 
in most persons who are awakened, to mingle con- 
tinually in public religious exercises. This may be 
the easiest, but it is not the safest or most desirable 
course. I do not say that many who adopt it do 
not become true Christians ; but, to me at least, it 
appears that there is more danger of a spurious 
conversion, or if it be not spurious, that the princi7 
pie of spiritual life will be feeble and sickly, than 
if there had been more of that knowledge of the 
hidden abominations of the heart, which is to be 
acquired especially by private self-examination. 

While you are giving to the awakened sinner 
these various directions, you can hardly repeat too 
often the caution that he should not mistake the de- 
sign of the means which you are recommending. Let 
him understand clearly that the only end to be an- 
swered by them, so far as respects himself, is to 
bring him to the conviction that he is all pollution, 
and guilt, and un worthiness ; and that he can do 
nothing toward his salvation but throw himself 
into the arms of sovereign mercy. When he is 
brought to this state of mind, means have done all 
that they can do for him as an impenitent sinner ; 
and if, instead of yielding himself up to God, he 
goes on still in the use of means, there is great rea- 
son to fear that they will prove the stumbling block 
over which he will fall into perdition. 

II. Having now marked out a general course of 
treatment adapted to an awakened sinner, I pro- 
ceed, secondly, to contemplate some of the great 



LECTURE VI. 167 

variety of cases which require more special counsel and 
instruction. 

Suppose the sinner says that, though he is aware 
that his case is as bad as you represent it, yet he can 
do nothing to render it any better^ and therefore must 
be contented to remain where he is. You are to endea- 
vor, in the first place, to convince him, by a direct 
appeal to his conscience, that the inability under 
which he labors is nothing more than a settled aver- 
sion of the heart from God ; and therefore is en- 
tirely without excuse. Let him see that he has all 
the powers of a moral agent ; that he has a con- 
science to distinguish between right and wrong, and 
a will by which he may choose the one and refuse 
the other. Let him see that in withholding his heart 
from God, he is as free as in any other course of 
action ; and therefore blameworthy ; and therefore 
condemned in the plea which he sets up for doing 
nothing. 

But let it be admitted, as it certainly must be, 
that every sinner, if left to himself, will perish ; 
that though the inability is of a guilty sort, yet it 
really does prevail ; — still you are to show the awak- 
ened sinner that this is nothing to him in the way of 
discouragement, for he is not left to himself : the 
Holy Spirit has already come to his aid ; and is of- 
fering not only to convince him of guilt, but to re- 
new him to repentance. What if it be true that, by 
his unassisted powers, he will never enter in at the 
straight gate, yet so long as the almighty energy of 
divine grace is actually proffered to his assistance, 



168 LECTURE VI. 

how can he stand still on the plea of inability ? Let 
the sinner bring his own powers into exercise to the 
utmost, and he need have no fear but that God will 
work within him both to will and to do, to secure 
his salvation. 

But suppose he should say that he has made tho- 
rough trial of his own powers^ and yet has accomplish- 
ed nothing — Let him be inquired of, in what manner 
he has been striving ? Is it not more than possible 
that the secret of his ill success lies in the fact that 
he has been trying to do too much ; or rather that 
he has done nothing with a right spirit ; that the in- 
fluence of all his exertions has been neutralized by 
the self-righteous notion of merit being attached to 
them ? Or may not his striving have been incon- 
stant; frequently interrupted by the cares of the 
world ; and never so earnest as the object of it de- 
mands ? But suppose it really appears to him on 
reflection that he has done all that he can do — in- 
asmuch as the interests of his eternity are suspend- 
ed on the result, he surely will not think it prudent to 
adopt a course which he knows must land him in per- 
dition. If he give up all eflbrt, his case is certainly 
hopeless : if he continue to strive, he can hut pe- 
rish ; and he may be saved. It were better that he 
should sacrifice a thousand worlds, were they in his 
possession, than to forego the possibiHty, if there 
were nothing more, of his escaping hell and obtain- 
ing heaven. 

But what if he should plead still farther, as a 
ground of discouragement, that many of his friends 



LECTURE VI. 169 

who were awakened at the same time with himself^ have 
apparently given themselves to the Saviour, and are 
rejoicing in hope ; and that hence he has no reason to 
believe that there is any mercy for him — Answer this 
plea by showing that God has given the same pow- 
ers of moral agency to him as to them ; that he has 
made the same gracious provision for him as for 
them ; and that in both cases the offer is equally 
free, equally sincere. Remind him that God has 
no where promised that he shall have the comforts 
of a good hope at any particular time, but he has 
promised that they who seek in a proper manner 
shall find ; and that promise he will certainly fulfil. 
If his friends have come into the kingdom before 
him, instead of ministering to his discouragement, 
let it be an argument with him to press forward ; for 
He who has had compassion on others is equally 
ready to extend compassion to him. 

But suppose the sinner allege as another ground 
of discouragement the doctrine of election ; presum- 
ing that he is not among the elect, and therefore all 
efforts to secure his salvation must be in vain. 
Take care that, in reply to this, you say nothing to 
bring this doctrine into question. Instead of even 
seeming to doubt it, or to treat it as if it were a 
mere speculation, admit it, prove it, and show that 
if it be not true, God has not spoken plainly in his 
word, and that he does not even exercise a provi- 
dence. But show him, at the same time, that the 
secret purposes of God do not in the least infringe 
the moral agency of man. Appeal to his own con- 
22 



170 LECTURE VI. 

sciousness for the truth of this ; and then confess 
to him your ignorance of the manner in which these 
two doctrines harmonize ; and at the same time ex- 
pose to him the folly of rejecting any truth which 
is susceptible of absolute proof, only because we 
cannot discover its harmony with some other truth 
which is no less clearly proved. And you may go 
farther still, and show him that this very doctrine of 
election, when rightly understood, so far from be- 
ing a discouraging doctrine, lies near the foundation 
of the sinner's hope ; for if all, when left to them- 
selves, are inclined to reject salvation, where is 
there hope for any, independently of God's sove- 
reign grace ? But this is nothing more nor less than 
the scripture doctrine of election. 

If however, the sinner, under the influence of an 
awakened conscience, should be disposed to indulge 
in cavils respecting this or any other doctrine, it 
were better not to attempt to follow him. The saf- 
est course in such a case, were to appeal from the 
speculations of his understanding, to the honest 
dictates of his conscience. If you undertake to 
answer all his objections, and do not answer them 
to his satisfaction, he may regard your supposed 
defeat as proving the weakness of the cause you 
have attempted to defend ; and in this miserable de- 
lusion he may find a refuge from his convictions. 
Or let the result of your conversation with him, in 
this respect, be as it may, the very fact of his being 
engaged in such a dispute, would be fitted to dimi- 
nish his anxiety, and not improbably might be the 



LECTURE VI. 171 

first step in his return to his accustomed careles- 
ness. 

Suppose the sinner should complain of great in- 
sensibility, and should express an earnest desire that 
he might have more pungent convictions — While you 
endeavor to keep his thoughts fastened upon those 
great truths which are most fitted to convince and 
to dissolve, such as the hohness of God, the perfec- 
tion of his law, the deep depravity of the heart, 
and the compassion and grace of a dying Saviour, 
you are to institute a faithful inquiry as to the 
ground of this desire ; and it is not improbable that 
you will discover that its leading element is self- 
righteousness ; that the sinner desires conviction 
because he imagines that there will be something of 
merit in it, to recommend him to the divine favor. 
He may not, indeed, be sensible of this, and it may 
not be easy to convince him of it ; for so deceitful 
is the heart, and so busy is the adversary, at such a 
moment, that inquiring sinners are exceedingly apt 
to mistake their own feelings ; but wherever you 
discover any evidences of the workings of this spi- 
rit, you must endeavor, if possible, to make the in- 
dividual perceive it, that he may escape from its in- 
fluence. Let him fully understand that he is just 
as depraved, just as worthy of eternal death in the 
sight of God, when he is in an agony of conviction, 
as he was in the depth of his carnal security ; — 
that the difference in the two cases is precisely the 
difference that exists between two criminals who 
are sentenced to die, one of whom views the reality 



172 LECTURE VI. 

af his condition, and anticipates with horror the 
appalling scene of execution ; while the other, in 
the confident expectation of a pardon, gives him- 
self up to absolute unconcern. Let him see that in 
conviction he only looks at himself as he is ; and 
let his own conscience decide whether there can be 
any merit in merely beholding his guilt. The man 
who is convinced that his house is on fire, and that 
he shall be burnt to death, if he remain in it, will 
make a hasty escape ; and his conviction of danger 
will have brought him to it ; though no one would say 
that there was any thing of merit in that conviction. 
In like manner, the sinner who is effectually con- 
vinced that he must perish if he remain impenitent, 
and that he can be saved only by the free grace of 
God in Christ, actually throws himself a guilty and 
helpless creature into his Saviour's arms ; and it is 
the conviction he has of his ruin that leads him to 
do this ; but will the sinner himself say that there 
is more of merit in this case than in the other ? 

Suppose the sinner to be sinking down under the 
burden of his guilt into a state of despair^ with an 
impression that his sins have been so aggravated 
that mercy cannot be extended to him — what you 
have to do in this case is to give him juster views 
of the gospel. He has practically lost sight of the 
truth that the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin; 
and this is the doctrine which you are to hold up 
to him in all its extent and glory. Bring to his 
mind God's own declarations, that he is able and wil- 
ling to save all that^come unto him ; that whosoever 



1 



LECTURE VI. 173 

believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and who- 
soeverv w^ill may come and take the water of life 
freely. Tell him that a bloody Manasseh and a 
persecuting Saul, and even some of the murderers 
of the Son of God, have obtained mercy ; and if 
he will have it that his guilt is more aggravated than 
theirs, urge upon him the fact that there is a bound- 
lessness in the compassions of God, and an infinite 
value in the blood of Christ, which no measure of 
guilt and pollution can possibly transcend. Dwell 
moreover on the wonderful consideration that, as 
God is glorified in the forgiveness of every penitent 
sinner, so he is most glorified in the forgiveness of 
the greatest sinners ; for then each of his moral 
perfections, and especially his grace, shines forth 
with the brightest lustre : and hence it is the privi- 
lege of the penitent to urge the greatness of his 
guilt before God, as an argument for his being for- 
given. Endeavor to make him realize that if his 
guilt, instead of having risen to the height of a 
mountain, had been limited to a single transgression, 
he could never have atoned for it by any exertions 
or sufferings of his own; but that the sacrifice 
which Christ has offered, forbids him to despair, 
notwithstanding his guilt appears so appalling. His 
eye has been already fixed long enough exclusively 
upon his guilt : it is time that it should be turned 
away to the cross of Christ. Hold him, if you can, 
to the blessed gospel. Let him see the richness, 
the preciousness, the freeness of its provision ; that 
it exactly meets the exigencies of those who feel 



\ 



174 LECTURE VI. 

that they are great sinners, and can do nothing but 
sink away into the arms of mercy. Admonish him, 
moreover, that despair is in itself a sin of fearful 
magnitude ; that though it may excite the compas- 
sion of man, it awakens the abhorrence of God ; 
that one of its primary elements is cold distrust of 
the offers and promises of the gospel ; and that the 
indulgence of it is only putting the soul at a more 
awful distance from Christ, and clouding still more 
deeply the prospect of its salvation. 

Suppose the sinner to become impressed with the 
idea that he has had no conviction of sin^ and that all 
that he supposed to be conviction was delusion; 
when at the same time he furnishes the most conclu- 
sive evidence that he is really a subject of powerful 
divine operation — in a case of this kind, I would 
endeavor to convince him, what is beyond all per- 
adventure true — that the adversary is at work, try- 
ing to drive away his convictions, by making him 
believe that he has none. I would show him how 
reasonable it were to expect that it should be so ; — 
that the great enemy of all good should be upon the 
alert, in the use of his wiles, when he sees that he is 
in danger of losing one of his subjects. And I would 
refer to the experience of many others, who have 
passed through similar trials, and who have at length 
become fully satisfied that they were suffering under 
a delusion, which was the effect of satanic influence. 
And when the point is once gained, that the sinner 
really believes that this impression in respect to his 



LECTURE VI. 175 

having no convictions is from below, he is prepared 
to resign it, and the delusion vanishes. 

It may be useful sometimes, in order to correct 
his views on this subject, to set him to account for 
his own unhappiness on the ground that he has no 
conviction. The fact that he has no peace, that he 
is even wretched, he will be willing enough to ac- 
knowledge. He is not as he was in other days, 
when his spirits were gay and buoyant, and no 
thoughts concerning the salvation of his soul ever 
rose in his mind. There is some cause in opera- 
tion now, which did not operate then; else there 
would have been no change in his feelings — no 
change in his conduct. Suppose he could exclude 
the subject of religion from his thoughts; — suppose 
he could regard it with the same indifference he for- 
merly did ; — suppose he could revert to the former 
impression that there was little or no danger in his 
case ; — and would not all the unhappiness which he 
now feels instantly fly away ? If he reflects, will he 
not acknowledge that this would be the case ? Let 
him say then what else it is than the conviction that 
he is a sinner, that disturbs the peace of his mind ? 
If he had no conviction of the truth of religion, and 
of the interest which he has in it, and of his expo- 
sure to the woes of perdition in consequence of hav- 
ing offended God, why is it that he is thrown into a 
state of wretchedness from which he would give the 
world, if it were at his command, to be delivered ? 

But if the awakened sinner persevere in the mista- 
ken notion that he has no conviction, I know of no 



176 LECTURE VI. 

Other course than to hold up to his view those great 
truths which are fitted to produce it. If he will have 
it that he has hitherto had no just sense of sin, we 
can only proclaim to him the evil of sin, and point 
him to the fountain that is opened for sin and un- 
cleanness. It is desirable, however, in such cases, 
to dwell chiefly on the glorious provision of the 
gospel; for though the soul is unwilling to admit 
that it feels its need, yet it actually does realize it ; 
and if Christ be continually held up, it may let go 
its favorite delusion long enough to embrace him ; 
and when Christ is really received, the delusion is 
gone forever. 

There is yet one more attitude in which we may 
contemplate the awakened sinner — I mean as gradu- 
ally falling under the power of a settled melancholy. 
As this is an evil greatly to be deprecated, so the 
very first tendencies to it, ought, if possible, to be 
promptly counteracted ; for unless it be early check- 
ed, it may soon become habitual, and may lead to 
the most disastrous and even fatal results. Where- 
ever this state of mind exists in connection with the 
subject of religion, it will usually be found to have 
been occasioned by an erroneous view of some par- 
ticular truth. It is a matter of much importance 
therefore to ascertain what is the error to which the 
individual is yielding himself; and this may ordina- 
rily be done by close and diligent inquiry. It is, 
how^ever, often more easy to ascertain the error than 
to remove it ; for the very fact that it operates so 
powerfully as to destroy, in some measure, the ba- 



LECTURE VI. 177 

lance among the faculties, proves that it has gained 
a strong hold of the mind, and is not probably to be 
dislodged by any feeble effort. In attempting to 
remove it, it is often wisest to avoid coming, at once, 
to the point ; lest the mind should take the alarm, 
and put itself into the attitude of defence. Let the 
effort be directed first to impress upon the disorder- 
ed intellect some of the great truths which it may 
not be disposed to question, but which are utterly in- 
consistent with the notion which has plunged it in- 
to gloom ; and let it be left, in some measure, to its 
own reflections and conclusions ; and when the par- 
ticular error is approached, let it be in an easy and 
delicate, and not in a harsh and revolting manner ; 
and there is good reason to hope that it may be de- 
livered from its bondage to the error, and thus the 
clouds of melancholy may go off, and light, and 
peace, and comfort, may succeed. 

It sometimes happens that the calamity of which 
I am speaking is connected with great physical de- 
rangement ; and that it would never have existed, 
but for some predisposing cause in the bodily sys- 
tem. In this case, the mind and body have a mutu- 
al action and re-action upon each other ; — the mind 
becoming more gloomy on account of the disease of 
the body ; and the body more diseased on account 
of the gloom of the mind. Sometimes important 
benefit may be derived from medical aid, and still 
more frequently perhaps from gentle relaxation and 
exercise. It has not unfrequently happened that 
change of scenery, change of surrounding objects, 

23 



178 LECTURE VI. 

change of daily associates, has helped to restore the 
health of the body, while it has contributed in the 
same degree to bring back the balance of the mind. 
There is one caution which ought always to be 
diligently observed, but which there is reason to 
fear is too often overlooked, in the treatment of a 
person in these painful circumstances — I refer to the 
fact that no measures should be taken which are fit- 
ted to carry his mind ultimately away from religion. 
It is not uncommon for those whose friends have 
fallen into this state, to manifest a strong disposi- 
tion to separate them from all religious influences; 
to divorce them from the company of Christians ; 
and to urge them into the society of the gay and 
thoughtless. But never was there a greater mis- 
take. The contrast which, in that case, exists, be- 
tween the world without and the world within; be- 
tween the cheerless and wretched state of the soul 
and the joyous bounding of hearts amidst the vani- 
ties of life, instead of relieving melancholy, is fit- 
ted to change it into agony. But if the point be ul- 
timately gained by such a course, let me ask, what 
is it that is gained ? It is not merely relief from 
gloom ; but it is freedom from all concern for the 
soul. It is a deliberate rushing back upon the va- 
nities and gaieties of life. It is turning away the 
thoughts from God, and from Christ, and from sal- 
vation, in a manner which renders it extremely pro- 
bable that they will never in this world be seriously 
directed to these objects again ; at least not in cir- 
cumstances in which reflection will be likely to be 



LECTURE VI. 179 

availing. If, instead of this violent course there 
should be adopted ojie which should be fitted to 
break up gloomy associations on the one hand, vi^ith- 
out driving away serious thought on the other; which 
should surround the individual with cheerful and yet 
with religious influences; there might be just rea- 
son to hope that, in escaping from the dominion of 
melancholy, he'would pass, not into the thoughtles- 
ness of the world, but into the peace and joy of the 
true Christian. 

Two brief remarks, by way of inference, will con- 
clude the discourse. 

1. Our subject exposes two opposite errors^ both of 
which, it is believed, are common, in the treatment of 
awakened sinners. 

The first is the error of those who limit them- 
selves to the simple direction to repent, or believe, 
or submit to God. Any thing beyond this they con- 
sider as putting the sinner upon the use of the 
means of grace ; and they ask how they can con- 
sistently do this, when the sinner is liable to die 
every moment, and thus be alike beyond repentance 
and beyond mercy ? And then again, they say that 
all that he does while he remains impenitent is sin- 
ful; and that by exhorting him to do any thing 
before repentance, they exhort him to sin. But it 
is not difficult to see where lies the mistake in this 
matter. All will admit that it is the duty of a sin- 
ner to repent without delay. But he cannot repent 
until he knows what repentance is, and until he un- 
derstands those great truths in view of which re- 



180 LECTURE VI. 

pentance is exercised. And to this end, if he be ig- 
norant, he must be instructed out of God's word ; — 
either by reading the Bible himself, or hearing its 
truths presented by others ; — in other words, he must 
be put upon the use of the means of grace. True 
it is that he may die before he has knowledge 
enough to exercise evangelical repentance; but 
even if it should be so, they who direct him are not 
responsible for the event; because some degree of 
knowledge is essential to repentance. And can it 
reasonably be said that any thing is sinful, which is 
necessarily involved in a compliance with God's 
command ? If he commands the sinner to repent, he 
commands him to do all that is necessary to enable 
him to repent ; and as some knowledge of his truth 
is necessary, if he do not possess it already, he is 
bound to gain it; and surely there can be nothing 
in that to excite the divine displeasure. 

The other error is that of directing inquiring 
sinners to use the means of grace, without, at the 
same time, enforcing the obligation of immediate re- 
pentance. This direction is fitted to abate a sense 
of guilt, and finally to bring back to the soul its ac- 
customed spiritual torpor. One of two results from 
such a direction you may confidently expect; — 
either that the sinner will lull himself to sleep in the 
use of means, and will soon be disposed to abandon 
them, or else that he will put himself upon a course 
of self-righteous effort, and imagine that he is go- 
ing rapidly towards heaven, when he has totally mis- 
taken the path that leads thither. Means are no- 



LECTURE VI. 181 

thing to an awakened sinner, except to bring before 
him those truths which are necessary to the exer- 
cise of repentance. To exhort him to the use of 
means with reference to any other end than this, 
were undoubtedly to mistake their design, and to ex- 
pose him to be dangerously and fatally misled. 

Take heed then. Brethren, that you avoid both 
these errors. Before you put off the sinner with 
the simple direction to repent, be sure that you are 
not speaking to him a language which he does not 
understand. Be sure that he understands those 
truths without a knowledge of which, your direc- 
tion, though true and good, would leave him to grope 
in the dark. And on the other hand, when you 
direct him to study his Bible and attend on the 
various means of religious instruction, take care 
that you do not leave the impression that this is 
a substitute for repentance, instead of the means 
of it ; or at least that repentance will by and by 
come along in the train of these means without any 
more direct personal effort. In short, endeavor to 
put him in the best way for understanding those 
truths which are involved in the exercise of repent- 
ance ; but at the same time, let him distinctly know, 
that it is of such vital importance and such immedi- 
ate obligation, that if he dies a stranger to it, he 
must reap the fruit of his neglect in a scene of in- 
terminable anguish. 

2. Finally : Our subject teaches us what are the 
best qualifications for directing and counselling awak- 
ened sinners. 



182 LECTURE VI. 

• 

It is essential that a person who undertakes this 
office should have a good knowledge of God's word ; 
for this is the great instrument by which the whole 
work is to be accomplished. It will not suffice that 
there should be a mere superficial acquaintance with 
divine truth ; but it should be deep and thorough ;■ — 
the doctrines of the Bible should be understood in 
their various bearings and connections. There 
should also be an intimate knowledge of the human 
heart — the subject on which this work is to be per- 
formed. There should be an ability to guide the 
sinner in the work of self-examination ; to ferret 
sin out from its various lurking places; to bring 
principles and motives to bear upon the various fa- 
culties and affections of the soul, with discrimina- 
tion and good effect. In short, there should be an 
intelligent and devoted piety ; for this secures a 
knowledge of divine truth on the one hand, and an 
acquaintance with the springs of human conduct on 
the other. I hardly need say that the knowledge 
necessary to the right discharge of this office, is es- 
pecially of an experimental character ; for he who 
undertakes to direct an inquiring sinner in a path 
in which he has never walked, is as the blind lead- 
ing the blind. A man may be destitute in a great 
degree of human learning, he may be a babe in the 
wisdom of the world, and yet he may have that di- 
vine and spiritual knowledge which shall render him 
a competent guide to inquiring souls. And on the 
other hand, he may be a proficient in every branch 
of human knowledge, he may have even studied 



LECTURE VI. 183 

thoroughly the philosophy of the mind, and the cri- 
ticism of the Bible, and yet, from having never felt 
the power of divine truth upon his own heart, he 
may be a most unskilful and unsafe guide in the 
concern of the soul's salvation. 

Wherefore, Christian Brethren, be exhorted to 
larger attainments both in knowledge and in piety. 
I might urge you to this on the ground that it will 
increase your comfort here, and brighten your crown 
hereafter. I might urge you to it also on the 
ground of general usefulness ; for there is no de- 
partment of benevolent action for which such at- 
tainments would not better prepare you. But I 
exhort you now to aim at these attainments from 
the consideration that your lot is cast at a period, 
when much devolves upon you in the way of direct- 
ing inquiring souls ; and while on the one hand, 
they may keep you from being instrumental, even 
in your well meant efforts, of great evil; on the 
other, they may secure to you the blessing of ac- 
complishing great good. Go then. Christian, often 
into your closet, and study your own heart. Open 
God's blessed word, and apply yourself to its pre- 
cious truths. Keep your soul constantly imbued 
with its spirit. Then the inquiring sinner may find 
in you a safe and skilful guide. Then you may 
hope that God will honor you as an instrument of 
saving souls from death, and hiding a multitude of 
sins. 



LECTURE VII. 



TREATMENT DUE TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 



2 Corinthians, xiii. 5. 
Prove your own selves. 

This exhortation was addressed by the Apostle 
to professed Christians. It takes for granted that 
they were not absolutely assured of their disciple- 
ship, and were liable to be deceived in the views 
which they formed respecting their own character. 
It enjoins the duty of referring their character to 
the proper test; proving whether Christ is in them 
by the sanctifying influences of his Spirit, or whe- 
ther they are mere nominal Christians, finally to be 
cast off as reprobate. 

The advice contained in the text was addressed 
to the Corinthian church indiscriminately; and it 
may properly apply to all Christians, without any 
reference to age or standing. It is, however, espe- 
cially applicable to those who have just entered, or 
professedly entered, on the Christian life; for if 
they mistake their own character then, there is rea- 
son to fear that the mistake will be fatal. It there- 

24 



186 LECTURE VII. 

fore becomes every minister, and every private 
Christian, who undertakes the office of a counsellor 
and guide, during a revival of religion, to make 
much use of the exhortation — " Prove your own 
selves." 

It is, if I mistake not, becoming a somewhat 
popular notion, that nearly all the efforts which are 
made during a revival, should be directed to the 
awakening and conversion of sinners; and that 
comparatively little attention is needed by those 
who have indulged the hope that they have become 
reconciled to God. Far be it from me to say, or 
to think, that too much is done to effect the former 
of these objects; but I am constrained to believe 
that there is far too little done in reference to the 
latter. True it is that the sinner, while trembling 
under a conviction of guilt, is in circumstances of 
awful interest ; for if the Spirit of God depart from 
him, it may be the eternal death of his soul : but it 
is no less true, that the period of his first cherish- 
ing a hope in God's mercy is an exceedingly criti- 
cal one ; for if he build on a sandy foundation, he 
may never discover it, until it slides from beneath 
him, and lets him into the pit. Let no Christian 
then imagine that his responsibility in connection 
with a revival terminates in the duty which he owes 
to awakened sinners : let him remember that there 
is another class who as truly claim his attention as 
they ; and who cannot be neglected but at the peril 
of encouraging self-deception, and corrupting the 
purity of the church. Lend me your attention, 



LECTURE VII. 187 

therefore, while I endeavor in this discourse to ex- 
hibit an outline of the treatment which is due 

TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN HOPEFULLY THE SUB- 
JECTS OF A RECENT CONVERSION. 

We will consider the object which ought to be 
kept in view; and the means by which it may be 
most successfully accomplished. 

I. The object to be aimed at in all our treatment 
of those who hope they have been recently con- 
verted, is twofold : to save from self-deception^ and 
to build up in faith and Jioliness. 

1. To save from self deception* 

That there is danger that many persons will 
practise deception upon themselves in these cir- 
cumstances, must be obvious to any one who gives 
the subject the least consideration. For the mind 
is then in an excited state, when it is most liable to 
misjudge of its own exercises : and the heart has 
been burdened with anguish; and has been longing 
for relief; and is prepared to welcome with trans- 
port the least evidence of pardon ; and of course is 
in danger of grasping at a shadow, and mistaking 
it for the substance. Besides, there is a chapter in 
the record of experience which teaches a most im- 
pressive lesson on this subject; which exhibits in- 
stances innumerable, of persons who have, for a 
season, felt confident of their own conversion, and 
have been hailed by Christians as fellow helpers in 
the work of the Lord, who have, nevertheless, sub- 
sequently been convinced themselves, and forced 
the conviction upon others, that what they had call- 



188 LECTURE VII. 

ed Christian experience was mere delusion. And 
while there is danger that self-deception will take 
place in these circumstances, no one can doubt that 
this is an evil greatly to be deprecated; for there is 
comparatively little reason to hope, in any given 
case, that it will be removed; and if it be not re- 
moved, it is in the very worst sense fatal. Surely 
then it devolves upon all who are active in conduct- 
ing a revival of religion, to guard those who hope 
they have been recently converted, against self-de- 
ception. Even amidst all the peace and rapture 
which they may experience, in connection with 
what they suppose to be a conversion to God, it is 
the duty of those who counsel them, though they 
may rejoice in their joy, to rejoice with trembling, 
lest it should prove that the hope with which their 
joy is connected, should be the hope of the hypo- 
crite, which shall finally prove as the giving up of 
the ghost. 

2. The other great end to be kept in view in re- 
spect to the class of which I am speaking, is, to build 
them up in faith and holiness. 

If they have actually been regenerated, they will 
certainly, in a greater or less degree, bring forth the 
fruits of holiness ; for it is impossible that a gra- 
cious principle should exist in the soul, and be habi- 
tually and entirely inoperative. Nevertheless, it 
is not every Christian who lets his light shine as he 
ought ; not every one that exerts any thing like the 
amount of influence in favor of the cause of Christ, 
that is fairly within his power. It therefore becomes 



LECTURE VII. 189 

a matter of great moment that, at the very beginning 
of the Christian Hfe, each one should be impressed 
with his obhgations to labor for his Master to the 
extent of his ability ; and should be assisted so far 
as may be, to form a character which will ensure 
at once the highest degree both of comfort and of 
usefulness. Whatever is done then to mould the 
character, will probably exert a far more decisive 
influence, than any thing which could be done at a 
future period ; and upon the counsels and directions 
which an individual receives, at such a moment, 
may depend in a great degree, the amount of good 
which he is to accomplish during his whole future 
life. Surely then, it is no unimportant office, to 
counsel and guide the young Christian. He who 
does it aright may be instrumental of opening foun- 
tains of blessing, which shall send forth their puri- 
fying streams in every direction. 

II. We proceed, secondly, to consider some of 
the means by which this twofold object is to be at- 
tained. 

1. Let those who hope they have been the sub- 
jects of a recent conversion be put on their guard 
against too confident a belief that they have been truly 
regenerated. 

I remember to have heard of an individual, who 
was afterwards greatly distinguished for piety, go- 
ing to the elder Jonathan Edwards, to whose con- 
gregation he belonged, to tell him what God had 
done for his soul ; and after that great and good 
man had listened to the account of his supposed 



190 LECTURE VII. 

conversion, and had heard him speak with rapture 
of the new and deHghtful views which he had of 
spiritual objects, and when the individual was ex- 
pecting that he would do nothing less than congra- 
tulate him upon having become a child of God, he 
was disappointed beyond measure by simply hearing 
him say that what he had experienced was an en- 
couragement to him to persevere ; though the man 
himself, in relating the circumstance many years 
after, when he had come much nearer the fulness of 
the stature of a perfect person in Christ, cordially 
approved the course which his minister had adopt- 
ed. It is not always easy to satisfy persons in these 
circumstances, even of the possibility that the hope 
and joy which they experience may be spurious ; 
but it is much to be desired, both as it respects their 
safety and their usefulness, that this should be ef- 
fected ; that while they acknowledge with devout 
gratitude to God the least evidence that he has ex- 
tended to them a gracious forgiveness, they should 
fear lest a promise being left of entering into rest, 
they should seem to come short of it. 

You cannot do better service to those who be- 
lieve themselves to have been recently converted, 
than by presenting distinctly before them the evi- 
dences of Christian character. Let them clearly 
understand that the mere fact that the clouds which 
hung over their minds are dispersed, and that they 
are rejoicing in bright sunshine, constitutes no suffi- 
cient evidence of their regeneration. Encourage 
them to analyze their feelings , to examine the mo- 



LECTURE VII. 191 

tives and principles of their conduct, especially to 
inquire whether they have the humility of the gospel, 
whether they cordially approve its conditions, and 
whether they glory in sovereign grace as it is mani- 
fested in the gospel scheme of salvation. Show them 
moreover, that the evidence of Christian character in 
order to be decisive, must be progressive ; that it 
consists especially in a fixed purpose, and a steady 
course of endeavors in reliance on God's grace, to 
do whatever he would have them to do ; that they 
must add to their faith all the virtues and graces of 
the Christian ; and that if they fail of this, what- 
ever other experience they may have, must be set 
down as nothing. Caution them against the wiles 
of their own hearts, and the wiles of the great ad- 
versary ; and urge them to settle the question re- 
specting their claim to Christian character, by re- 
ferring their experience to the simple standard of 
God's word. 

It is matter of great moment that they should be 
impressed, from the beginning, with the importance 
of habitual self-examination; for this is not more 
essential to ensure them against self-deception, than 
it is to all their attainments in holiness. Let them 
be exhorted not only to inspect narrowly their mo- 
tives and feelings from day to day, with a view to 
give a right direction to their prayers, and to as- 
certain the measure of their growth in grace, but 
also frequently to revolve the great question whether 
they have really been born of the Spirit. Such a 
course honestly and faithfully pursued in the light 



192 LECTURE VII. 

of God's word, is hardly consistent with cherishing 
the hypocrite's hope, or with making low attain- 
ments in piety. 

2. Endeavor to impress them with the conside- 
ration that if they have really been renewed^ they are 
just entering on a course of labor and conflict. 

It too often happens that, in the rapture which 
the soul experiences when it emerges suddenly into 
light from the gloom of deep conviction, there is 
little else thought of than its own enjoyment; and 
the bright visions of heaven by which it is well 
nigh entranced, occasion a temporary forgetfulness 
of the trials and conflicts, and all the more sober 
realities, of the Christian life. Now it is highly 
important that an individual should not, at this in- 
teresting moment, take up the idea that he is born 
into the kingdom to enjoy a state of perpetual sun- 
shine ; that he has nothing to do but fold his arms, 
and sit quietly down in the cheering and bright 
light of God's countenance. Let him once get this 
impression, or any think like it, and the effect in 
the first place will be painful disappointment; for 
it is almost certain that, at no distant period, he will 
have to encounter days of darkness; and he will 
find a law in his members warring against the law 
of his mind ; and not improbably he may be ready 
to give his hope to the winds, and resign himself to 
the conviction that all the joy he had experienced, 
was the effect of delusion. Besides, such an im- 
pression, there is reason to fear, might exert an in- 
fluence that would be felt through life, unfavorable 



LECTURE VII. 193 

to his Christian activity; and might abate, in no 
small degree, his zeal, and efficiency, and useful- 
ness, in the cause of his Master. 

Strive then to impress the young convert, from 
the very beginning, with the conviction that God 
has called him into his kingdom to struggle with the 
corruptions of his heart — to war with principalities 
and powers. Admonish him that there is still an 
evil principle within him ; and that if its operations 
seem to be suspended for a season, it yet retains a 
deadly energy, which will call him ere long to se- 
vere conflict. Admonish him also of the tempta- 
tions of the world ; tell him how insidious they are ; 
in what a variety of forms they present themselves ; 
how many who have imagined themselves secure 
against their influence, have nevertheless been as- 
sailed by them with success. Remind him also that 
he has a powerful, invisible enemy to contend with — 
the enemy of all good; — against the influence of 
whose wiles no condition in life can secure him. 
Let him understand that he is never so much in 
danger of falling into the hands of his spiritual ene- 
mies, as when he yields to a spirit of self-confi- 
dence or carelesness; and either practically for- 
gets that such enemies exist, or else thinks to en- 
counter them in his own strength. He cannot be 
girded for conflict too early; or observe their 
movements too vigilantly ; or meet them too reso- 
lutely and boldly. Let him determine that he will 
wear the whole armor of God at all times, and es- 
pecially in every scene of temptation into which 

25 



194 LECTURE VII. 

his duty may call him, and then he may be able to 
stand. 

But he has something more to do than merely to 
contend with enemies; he has to labor directly for 
the advancement of Christ's cause. His lot is cast 
in a world lying in darkness and wickedness; and 
it is for him to lend his aid to enlighten and re- 
form it. At home and abroad there are multitudes 
thronging the road to perdition; it is for him to 
put forth a hand to arrest them, and by God's 
blessing upon his efforts, to turn them into the path 
of life. The Lord Jesus Christ has given to the 
world his gospel; and he has left an injunction 
upon his people to carry it to the ends of the earth; 
that its light may every where be diffused, and its 
influence every where felt; and every one who is 
born into his kingdom, becomes specially obligated 
to lend himself to this glorious work; and to con- 
tinue in it, till he shall be taken from his labors to 
his reward. Every young convert should be made 
to feel that this is a matter of personal concern 
with himself; and that from the hour of his conver- 
sion to God, all his affections, and faculties, and pos- 
sessions, are in some way or other to be consecra- 
ted to his glory. 

Let it further be impressed upon him that it is 
most unworthy of any one who believes himself 
called into the kingdom of Christ, even to desire an 
exemption from labor and trial. For what were the 
sufferings and sacrifices of him, to whom the Chris- 
tian looks as the foundation of his hopes and joys ? 



LECTURE VII. 195 

And what is the utmost that he can do or suffer, 
when compared with the exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory which awaits him in heaven ? It is a 
law of God's providence that, on the whole, the high- 
est degree of happiness is connected with the most 
faithful discharge of duty ; so that while he calls 
the Christian to glory, he calls him also to virtue ; 
in other words, he brings him into his kingdom to 
find his enjoyment in a course of obedience to his 
commandments. And while these commandments 
in themselves are not grievous, the keeping of them 
brings peace to the soul, inasmuch as it furnishes 
the best, the only satisfactory evidence of true dis- 
cipleship. Surely the young Christian cannot re- 
sist, will not desire to resist, the force of such con- 
siderations. 

3. Let it be impressed upon the mind of the new 
convert that much of his comfort and usefulness in 
the religious life will probably depend on the resolutions 
he formsj and the principles he adopts, at the begin- 
ning* 

It is in religion as in every thing else — the first 
steps that are taken are usually the most decisive. 
The man who sets out well in any worldly enter- 
prize, who carefully counts the cost, and engages 
in it with a prudence and zeal, and resolution, cor- 
responding to its importance, we expect, in all ordi- 
nary cases, will succeed ; and we calculate that the 
amount of his success will be very much in propor- 
tion to the discretion and energy which characte- 
rize his earliest efforts. On the other hand, let an 



196 LECTURE VII. 

individual engage in the same enterprize with but 
little reflection and zeal, and instead of making it, 
at the beginning, a commanding object, let him re- 
gard it as a matter to be taken up and laid aside as 
circumstances may seem to dictate, and you may 
expect with confidence that the end will be like the 
beginning ; — little attempted, little accomplished. 
In like manner, suppose the young Christian to set 
out with a decided purpose formed in the strength 
of divine grace, to do the utmost in his power for 
the advancement of the Redeemer's cause ; — sup- 
pose he adopt fixed principles for the regulation of 
his whole conduct, and begin with a firm resolution 
that he will never yield them up in any circumstanc- 
es ; and you may hope with good reason to see him 
holding on his way in the face of appalling obsta- 
cles, and exhibiting through life the character of a 
good soldier of Jesus Christ. But if he begin, sa- 
tisfied with some general intentions to do his duty, 
and without any definite plan for the regulation of 
his conduct ; if he adopt the principle of yielding 
improperly to circumstances, and endeavor to make 
a compromise with conscience for the neglect of 
duties that require great self-denial, rely on it, his 
course will, in all probability, be marked by little 
either of comfort or usefulness ; and if he is saved 
at the last, it will be so as by fire. I acknowledge, 
indeed, that there are some cases in which an un- 
promising beginning is followed by an active and 
useful life ; in which an early course of conformity 
to the world is terminated by means of some dis- 



LECTURE VII. 197 

pensation of providence, and is followed by a course 
of exemplary and devoted obedience ; but in all or- 
dinary cases, the man who adopts a low standard 
at the beginning, never rises to a more elevated one 
at any subsequent period. 

Let the young convert, then, be admonished to 
begin the Christian life with such resolutions and 
principles, as will be likely to secure the greatest 
amount of activity and usefulness. Let him con- 
template the importance of doing the utmost in his 
power for the honor of his Master, and the advance- 
ment of his cause, as well as of reaching the high- 
est attainable degree of personal holiness ; — let him 
determine that nothing shall divert him from the 
purpose of following Christ through bad as well as 
good report, and that in the strength of his grace, 
he will march on in his service in spite of any ob- 
stacles that may lie in his way — let him resolve that 
he will keep the eye of faith steadily fixed now upon 
the Saviour's cross, and now upon the crown of glo- 
ry ; — in short, let him form a plan of holy living that 
shall reach onward to his entrance into the abodes 
of light ; and in these holy resolutions and purposes, 
I expect to find the germ of an actively useful and 
eminently happy life. I expect there will prove to 
have been that which will reflect an additional lus- 
tre on his immortal crown. 

4. Let him be exhorted farther to draw all Ms re- 
ligious opinions, and all his maxims of conduct, direct- 
ly from God^s word. 



198 LECTURE VII. 

I know there are many human productions in 
which the doctrines of the gospel are stated and de- 
fended with great ability ; and he would do himself 
injustice, as well as evince a criminal ingratitude for 
God's goodness, who should refuse to avail himself 
of them as helps towards building himself up in the 
most holy faith. But let them always be considered 
as subordinate to God's word ; and let them be tried 
by it ; and let whatever will not stand that test be 
thrown among the wood, and hay, and stubble. He 
who derives his views of rehgion from any unin- 
spired works, however much of general excellence 
they may possess, will, of course, be liable to an 
admixture of error ; and besides, even if he should 
chance to gather from them the uncorrupted truth, 
he could not have the same deep and powerful con- 
viction of it, as if it had been drawn directly from the 
lively oracles. And how much less is God honored in 
the one case than in the other ! How much less by 
believing the truth because we may have been taught 
it in our catechisms and confessions, than because 
it has beamed forth upon our own intellectual eye, 
from the verylpage on which the mind of the Spirit 
has been recorded ! 

I would say then to every one just entering on 
the Christian life — study the Bible for yourself. 
Study it with humility, diligence and prayer. What 
you find written there, believe ; whatever is not 
written there is either not true or not important. 
And be not discouraged in your efforts to ascertain 
the truth for yourself, by the fact that the world is 



LECTURE VII. 199 

full of different opinions respecting it; — for the 
truth is clearly revealed ; and besides, most of the 
disputes which exist among Christians relate rather 
to human philosophy than to the matter of God's 
word. Remember that God himself hath said that 
" the meek he will guide in judgment ; the meek he 
will teach his way." 

But it is not less important that the new convert 
should derive the rules of his conduct^ than the prin- 
ciples of his faith, directly from the Bible. There 
are, indeed, many particular cases in which men 
may be called to act, in relation to which there are 
no express directions given in God's word; but 
there are general rules to be found there which ad- 
mit of application to every possible case ; and which 
an enlightened conscience will always know how 
to apply. Let the young Christian then be exhort- 
ed to study the Bible diligently as a rule of duty ; 
to ascertain from God's own word what he would 
have him to do in the various conditions in which 
he is placed ; and to refer every question of right 
and wrong which he is called practically to decide 
to this standard, and no other. Let his character 
be formed under this influence, and it cannot fail to 
rise in fair and goodly proportions. There will be 
in it a dignified stability which will secure it from 
the undue influence of circumstances. Its posses- 
sor will be enabled to act not only with rectitude, 
but with confidence and decision; and while he 
keeps a conscience void of offence, he will com- 
mend himself to the good will of his fellow men, 



200 LECTURE VII. 

and to the special favor of God. The current of 
pubHc opinion not unfrequently sets in a wrong di- 
rection, and yet is exceedingly rapid and powerful ; 
and he who attempts to resist, may be obliged to do 
it, at the expense of bearing a heavy load of oblo- 
quy ; but he who makes God's word the rule of his 
conduct, will be able to do this notwithstanding ; — 
to stand firm, even when the waves of opposition 
are rolling over him. Many a young Christian has 
been carried, by the influence of custom and exam- 
ple far into courses over which he has subsequently 
had just occasion to weep ; when, by having ad- 
hered to the scriptural standard of duty, he would 
have kept a conscience void of offence, and pre- 
vented the occasion for bitter repentance. 

You then who may be called to counsel those 
who are just setting out in the Christian life, should 
charge them by a regard to their comfort, their 
character, their usefulness, to have nothing to do 
with any other standard of conduct than that which 
they find in the Bible. Let them be exhorted to 
adhere to this, even though it should subject them 
to the greatest temporal inconvenience. Let them 
determine that they will regulate by it the whole con- 
duct of their lives ; — not only what may seem to them 
their most important, but also their least important 
actions. When they have settled the question, 
" Lord what wilt thou have me to do ?" then, and 
only then, are they prepared to act with freedom 
and confidence ; in a manner that is fitted to keep 



LECTURE VII. 201 

peace in their consciences, and to bring down upon 
them the blessing of God. 

5. Let the young convert be admonished to as- 
certain, as soon as possible, his besetting sin ; and to 
guard against it with the utmost caution. 

It is true of every Christian that there is some 
one sin to which he is more inchned than any oth- 
er: what that sin will be in any particular case, 
may depend on the previous moral habits of the in- 
dividual, or on the circumstances in which he is 
placed, or on some original infirmity or obliquity of 
constitution ; for as bodily disease is most likely to 
seat itself in the part which is originally the weak- 
est, so the depravity of the heart usually concen- 
trates its energies in some passion or appetite which 
is marked by the greatest degree of natural per- 
verseness. He, therefore, who ascertains in his 
own case what this sin is, and who regards it as the 
most formidable enemy to be encountered in his 
conflict, and succeeds in gaining a victory over it, 
accomplishes much in the way of his sanctification. 
He who neglects to guard against the besetting sin, 
while he takes care to avoid sins to which he is not 
specially inclined, acts as unwise a part as a gene- 
ral who should employ all his skill and energies to 
prevent an attack from some scattered and unim- 
portant part of a hostile army, while, without any 
effort at resistance, he should suffer the main body 
to move toward his ranks, and open upon them in a 
fierce discharge of artillery. 

26 



202 LECTURE VII. 

There is no difficulty in ascertaining the beset- 
ting sin in any given case, provided there is a faith- 
ful use of the means which God has put within our 
power : nevertheless, from a neglect of these means, 
there is no doubt a lamentable degree of ignorance 
on this subject. Let the young Christian then be 
exhorted to watch closely all the tendencies of his 
mind; — to observe on what forbidden objects his 
affections most readily fasten; — in what manner 
his thoughts are occupied when his mind is most at 
leisure and subject to the least restraint ; and what 
circumstances and occasions operate most power- 
fully upon him in the way of temptation ; and the 
result cannot fail to be, that he will know what is 
the sin which most easily besets him. And when 
he knows it, he is prepared to guard against it. 
This he must do by keeping a watchful eye upon 
that particular part of his moral nature in which 
this sin has its operation ; by avoiding, as much as 
possible, those objects and occasions which are 
likely to furnish temptations to it ; or if called into 
scenes of temptation in the providence of God, by 
placing a double guard at the vulnerable point ; by 
earnest prayer for grace to be enabled to gain the 
victory ; and by cultivating, in a high degree, gene- 
ral spirituality of character. As the indulgence of 
the besetting sin, whatever it may be, is unfavora- 
ble to the growth of all Christian affections, so the 
general culture of these affections, the abounding in 
all the virtues and graces of the gospel, is the most 
certain means of destruction to the besetting sin. 



LECTURE VII. 203 

It can never flourish in a soil which is habitually 
watered with heavenly grace. 

6. Impress the young convert with the danger of 
the least departure from duty ; — of taking the first 
step in the way of spiritual decline. 

It rarely happens that an individual becomes a 
great backslider at once : on the contrary, it is 
usually the work of time, and generally has a small 
and almost imperceptible beginning. When the 
first step is taken, there is probably, in most cases, 
an intention not to take another — certainly not to 
go far ; but it is a law of our moral constitution 
that one step renders the next easier ; and hence 
the facility with which we form our habits, espe- 
cially evil habits. The young convert, upon the 
mount of Christian enjoyment, is able to form but 
an inadequate idea of the conflicts of the religious 
life ; he realizes then, much less than in subsequent 
parts of his course, the need of constant watchful- 
ness against temptation ; and this lack of vigilance 
throws open the doors of the heart, and not unfre- 
quently the tempter has planted himself there, and 
begun his work, before any danger has been appre- 
hended. And the soul which was just now burning 
with ecstacy, wakes to the fact that not only its 
joys are rapidly upon the wane, but that its desires 
are becoming earthly, and its impression of invisi- 
ble things feeble and inconstant. 

Caution the young Christian then, against the 
least allowed violation of duty. Admonish him 
that, if he enter on such a course, he can never 



.-T) 



204 LECTURE VII. 

know where it will end. Point him to examples of 
those who have taken the first step with a firm pur- 
pose never to take another, who have nevertheless 
continued to backslide, until there was scarcely the 
semblance of Christian character remaining. Let 
him understand that no degree of joy, or even of spi- 
rituality, which he can possess on earth, can be any 
security against his losing his evidences and his 
comforts, and sinking into a state of the most chill- 
ing spiritual indifference. And if, at any time, he 
find that he has actually begun to wander, let him 
know that he has the best reason to be alarmed, 
and that every hour that he continues his wander- 
ings, he is making work for bitter repentance, and 
bringing a dark cloud over his religious prospects. 

7. Put the young convert on his guard against 
neglecting the duties of the closet. 

It is in the closet especially that every Christian 
must labor to keep alive the flame of devotion in 
his own soul. Here, more than any where else, is 
carried forward the work of self-examination : here 
are the silent communings of the soul with its God, 
in acts of confession, and thanksgiving, and sup- 
plication: here the believer becomes acquainted 
with his sins and his wants; and while he unbur- 
dens his soul before the throne of mercy, gathers 
strength and grace, by which he is sustained and 
carried forward amidst the various duties and trials 
which meet him in the world. Hence it always 
happens that, in proportion as the duties of the 
closet are neglected, religion languishes in the heart, 



LECTURE VII. 205 

and the exhibition of it in the Ufe becomes faint and 
equivocal. It is manifest to those vrho see him and 
converse with him, that there is a canker corroding 
the principle of his spiritual life. And he himself 
knows that his joys have fled, and his conscience 
has become his accuser, and he has no evidence 
which ought to satisfy him that he is walking in the 
path to heaven. 

But this evil — that of neglecting the closet — is 
one to which the young convert is exceedingly lia- 
ble. He may not be liable to it in the very earliest 
stage of his Christian experience ; for then the du- 
ties of the closet are usually a delight to him; but 
when his first joys have partially subsided, and he 
has begun to be conversant with the more sober 
realities of the religious life, there is great danger 
that he will find some apology for a partial and ir- 
regular attendance on these duties. One source of 
danger is found in the fact that he may neglect 
them, and still be unobserved by the world ; — that 
he may neglect them without forfeiting, even in the 
view of his fellow Christians, who of course are ig- 
norant of it, his claim to Christian character. And 
then these duties being of a peculiarly spiritual 
kind, are the very first to lose their attractions to a 
Christian who is losing his spirituality. Other du- 
ties bring him before the world : these bring him 
only before his own conscience and the searcher 
of his heart. And besides, where circumstances 
may seem to render it inconvenient to engage in 
closet devotion, it is too easy a matter to satisfy 



sss 



206 LECTURE VII. 

the conscience with an indefinite resolution that it 
shall be attended to at a subsequent period ; and no 
resolution is more easily broken than this ; and let 
it be broken in a few instances, and a habit of com- 
parative indifference to the closet is the conse- 
quence. I doubt not that I might appeal to the 
experience of a large part of those who have pro- 
fessedly entered on the Christian life for evidence 
of the fact, that no habit is formed with more ease 
than that of neglecting, in a greater or less degree, 
this class of duties. 

If then the faithful discharge of private religious 
duties be so essential to a vigorous and healthful 
tone of religious feeling and action, and if there be 
peculiar temptations to neglect them, then every 
person at the commencement of the Christian life, 
ought to be admonished of his danger on the one 
hand, and exhorted to fidelity on the other. Coun- 
sel him to have his stated seasons for private devo- 
tion, in which nothing but imperative necessity shall 
keep him out of his closet. Counsel him to take 
heed that he do not substitute the form for the spi- 
rit of prayer ; that he do not satisfy his conscience 
by appearing before God with the bended knee, 
without the broken heart. Counsel him to mingle 
with his private prayers self-examination and the 
reading of God's word; that thus his communion 
with God may be more intelligent on the one hand, 
and more spiritual on the other. Counsel him ne- 
ver to turn his back upon his closet, because he 
may find his affections low and languid, and may 



LECTURE VII. 207 

imagine that he should have Httle enjoyment in at- 
tempting to pray : let this rather be urged as an ar- 
gument for hastening to his closet, and confessing 
and lamenting his indifference, and endeavoring to 
get the flame of devotion rekindled in his bosom. 
In short, urge upon him the importance of private 
meditation and devotion in all circumstances ; urge 
him to redeem time for that purpose under the 
greatest pressure of worldly care; and keep him 
mindful of the connection which this duty has with 
every thing that belongs to Christian character and 
Christian enjoyment. 

8. Admonish him to beware of the world* 
Every one who has made much progress in the 
Christian life, has been taught by his own experi- 
ence that the world is a deadly enemy to the believ- 
er's growth in grace. It is not easy for an advanced 
Christian to be very familiar with it and retain a 
high degree of spirituality ; and accordingly you 
will find that there are few comparatively whose 
secular callings keep their faculties under an almost 
constant contribution, who habitually evince a deep 
and strong religious sensibility. Even the cares of 
the world — to speak of nothing more, are exceed- 
ingly apt to mar the Christian character ; but there 
are, in addition, the pleasures of the world, the 
honors of the world, the riches of the world ; all 
of which in turn seize hold of the heart with a 
mighty grasp. And sometimes the world laughs 
and scoffs at the young Christian, and tries to per- 
suade him that he is giving himself to fanaticism 



208 LECTURE VII. 

and folly. Sometimes it flatters and caresses him, 
and by its artful blandishments, seeks to draw him 
aside from the plain path of duty. And sometimes 
it would fain persuade him that he is right in the 
general, but unreasonably scrupulous in respect to 
particulars ; and that the self-denial to which he is 
disposed to yield, is little better than pharisaical 
austerity ; and that if he will go, at least to a mod- 
erate degree, into the amusements of the world, 
there is enough in the Bible in favor of cheerfulness 
and joy to bear him out in it. Indeed the world 
will assume any form, or turn into any thing, to 
draw the Christian, especially the young Christian, 
away from God and from duty. 

How important then that you put him on his 
guard, at the very beginning, against this dangerous 
enemy ! If he is in the morning of life as well as 
young in Christian experience, there is reason why 
you should caution him especially against the levi- 
ties and amusements of the world ; for this is the 
point at which he will be most in danger. Let him 
beware of the influence of former careless associ- 
ates : not that he should say to them by his con- 
duct — " Stand by, I am holier than thou ;" not that 
he should be encouraged to assume a single distant 
or unsocial air towards them ; but he should take 
heed that they do not imperceptibly draw him into 
forbidden paths ; that they do not either by flatter- 
ies on the one hand, or sneering insinuations on 
the other, prevail over his scruples, and bring him 



LECTURE VII. 209 

under the lash of his own conscience in conse- 
quence of unjustifiable and unchristian complian- 
ces. 

9. Another important part of duty towards those 
who are just entering on the Christian life, is to 
encourage them gradually to hear a part in social re- 
ligious exercises* 

I do not mean that this is to be done in every 
case ; for I well know that there are a few persons 
who, from some difficulty of utterance, or some pe- 
culiarity of constitutional temperament, are disquali- 
fied to conduct the devotions of an assembly to edi- 
fication ; and wherever cases of this kind exist, it 
were wrong to urge, or even to encourage the in- 
dividuals to attempt this service. But these cases, 
I believe, are not frequent; in far the greater num- 
ber of instances where they are supposed to exist, 
the individuals, I doubt not, mistake their own pow- 
ers. Wherever there is the gift of prayer in a com- 
mon degree, it is exceedingly desirable that its pos- 
sessor should be trained to the exercise of it in pub- 
lic ; for if he improve it in that way discreetly, it 
cannot fail greatly to increase his usefulness. I 
would not, however, advise, in ordinary cases, that 
a young Christian, especially if he be a very young 
person, should be brought at once to conduct the 
devotions of a large assembly ; for I should expect 
that it would serve to embarrass and dishearten 
him on the one hand, or to puff him up with spirit- 
ual pride on the other ; and withal that there would 
be little to edify those whose devotions he should 

27 



210 ^ LECTURE VII. 

attempt to conduct. I would advise, therefore, that 
his first attempts to lead in social prayer, should be 
on some occasion vrhere there are literally but tvi^o or 
three gathered together ; and it were well that those 
should be persons whose feelings correspond with his 
own, and whose presence would be least fitted to em- 
barrass him; and from leading occasionally in such 
an exercise, he might soon acquire that composure 
and self-command, which would enable him to guide 
in a proper manner the devotions of a larger cir- 
cle ; and ultimately, and at no distant period, to per- 
form the duty of public prayer, wherever he should 
be called to it. Let him be preserved from the ex- 
treme of being driven to this service, prematurely, 
on occasions altogether public, and let him be kept 
from the opposite extreme of yielding to a timidity 
which shall prevent him from engaging in it at all ; 
and the greatest amount of good will be secured to 
him, the greatest amount of good will be secured to 
the church and the world through his instrumental- 
ity. 

10. I observe, once more, that every young con- 
vert should be encouraged, at a proper time, to make 
a public profession of religion. 

This is a duty which he owes to himself, to the 
church, and to his Master ; and he cannot deliber- 
ately and voluntarily neglect it, but at the expense 
of his comfort, his usefulness, and even his claim to 
Christian character. It is his privilege to come into 
the church ; for it is refreshing to sit under the sha- 
dow of its ordinances, and in the communion of 



LECTURE VII. 211 

saints on earth, to anticipate the more elevated and 
rapturous communion of heaven. It is his duty to 
come into the church ; for hereby especially he is 
enabled to let his light shine before men, so that 
they seeing his good works may glorify our Father 
who is heaven. 

But while every young Christian should be en- 
couraged to make a profession of religion, he should 
be encouraged to do it at the proper time — neither 
too early nor too late. 

There is a possibility of doing this too early. 
In this case there would be no sufficient opportunity 
of testing the character; or of guarding against 
self-deception ; or as the case may be, of under- 
standing what is implied, and what is required, in a 
Christian profession. On the other hand, it may 
be deferred too long ; and then the desire for it may 
become feeble, the mind clouded, and all the Chris- 
tian graces languish for want of that appropriate 
nourishment which is supplied by Christian ordi- 
nances. It is not easy, nor indeed possible, to es- 
tablish any certain rule which shall apply in all cases, 
in respect to the time of admission to the privileges 
of the church ; because there must needs be a dif- 
ference corresponding with the variety of constitu- 
tional temperament, external advantages, degrees 
of knowledge, and degrees of evidence of Chris- 
tian character ; but it is manifest that either extreme 
is fraught with danger ; that great precipitancy, or 
long delay, may be the occasion of serious evils. 



212 LECTURE VII. 

The young convert should be well instructed in 
relation to the nature and obligations of a Christian 
profession; and should be encouraged to come 
with humility in view of his un worthiness ; with 
gratitude in view of the greatness of the privilege ; 
with strong resolutions of holy living in view of the 
peculiar obligations of acknowledged discipleship ; 
and with full dependence on divine grace in view of 
his own weakness on the one hand, and the arduous 
duties of the Christian life on the other. Let him 
come with this spirit, at the proper time, and we 
may reasonably hope that it will be good for him, 
that it will be good for the church, that he joins 
himself to her communion. 

Let it not be thought, however, that the church 
owes no peculiar duty to young Christians, after 
she has received them into her fellowship, or that 
the same cautions and counsels which she has given 
them before, are not to be repeated subsequently 
to this act. She is to bear in mind that they are 
new in the duties and conflicts of the Christian life ; 
that they are peculiarly exposed to the temptations 
of the world; that they need to be counselled and 
instructed with Christian fidelity and affection ; — 
to be assisted in forming and executing their plans 
of usefulness; and encouraged to come up pru- 
dently, and yet fearlessly and decidedly, to the help 
of the Lord against the mighty. As a tender mo- 
ther cherisheth her children, so she is to cherish 
them. Like the great Shepherd, she is to take the 
lambs in her arms, and carry them in her bosom. 



LECTURE VII. 213 

Without extending my remarks farther on this 
subject, I think we are fairly brought to the conclu- 
sion, that every revival of rehgion is dependent for 
its good effect, in no small degree, upon the course 
vrhich is adopted with those who are professedly its 
subjects. Whether the effect of a revival is to be 
that the purity of the church shall be increased, as 
well as its numbers, or that with what is truly good 
it is to receive a large amount of dross and chaff; 
whether those who have really been renewed are to 
begin and hold on a course of consistent, active, 
Christian obedience, or are to have their religious 
character marred, and their usefulness abridged, by 
being conformed to false and unscriptural stand- 
ards; — depends, in no small degree, upon the in- 
struction and counsel they receive, while they are 
yet babes in Christ. Let every Christian, then, 
who undertakes to perform this important office, 
realize deeply his responsibility. Let him bear in 
mind that the influence which he exerts, will tell, 
not only on individual character, but on the future 
efficiency and purity of the church. And let all 
seek to qualify themselves for this arduous work, 
(for there are none upon whom it may not at some 
time devolve,) by the faithful study of God's word, 
by earnestly supplicating divine grace, and by con- 
stantly aiming at a high standard of Christian expe- 
rience. With the furniture thus acquired, you may 
mingle among your younger brethren and sisters in 
Christ with delight and profit, both to yourselves 
and them. You may be increasing in the know- 



214 LECTURE VII. 

ledge of God, while you are building them up in 
the most holy faith. You may be walking in the 
path of eminent usefulness towards the abodes of 
immortal glory. 



LECTURE VIII. 



EVILS TO BE AVOIDED IN CONNECTION WITH REVIVALS. 



Romans xiv. 16. 
Let not then your good be evil spoken of. 

This direction of the Apostle was suggested by a 
particular case, which was the subject of contro- 
versy in the church at Rome, when this epistle was 
written. You will instantly perceive, however, that 
the rule here prescribed, is of universal application ; 
and that it is founded in general principles of 
Christian prudence and charity. The design of it 
is not only to direct us in the practice of that which 
is good, but to lead us to unite wisdom with our 
pious activity ; that we may, so far as possible, pre- 
vent incidental evils from being connected with our 
well meant efforts, and that our good may be inof- 
fensive and irreproachable. 

As there is no part of Christian conduct in rela- 
tion to which this direction is not applicable, so, if 
I mistake not, it applies especially to the part which 
the church is called to take in a revival of religion — 
indeed to the whole economy of a revival. For as 



IBIH 



216 LECTURE VII. 

there is no department of religious action in which 
even good men are not Hable to err, so there is no 
other field in which the Christian is called to labor, 
where there is greater danger of his being misled. 
There is in the minds of most men a tendency to 
extremes ; and that tendency is never so likely to 
discover itself as in a season of general excitement. 
When men are greatly excited on any subject, we 
know that they are in far more danger of forming 
erroneous judgments, and adopting improper cour- 
ses, than when they are in circumstances to yield 
themselves to sober reflection. Now as there is 
often great excitement in connection with a revival, 
there is the common danger which exists in all 
cases of highly excited feeling, that our honest en- 
deavors to do right will result in more or less that 
is wrong; in other words, that we shall give occa- 
sion for our good to be evil spoken of. 

The conclusion to which we should be brought 
on this subject from the very constitution of human 
nature, is in exact accordance with what we know 
of the history of revivals. There always has been, 
mingled with these scenes of divine power and 
grace, more or less of human infirmity and indis- 
cretion; and in some cases, no doubt, in which 
there have even been many genuine conversions, 
there has been just reason to say, "what is the 
wheat to the chaflf?" To say nothing of revivals in 
modern times — whoever will read the history of the 
early revivals in New-England, while he will find 
evidence enough that the presence and power of 



LECTURE VIII. 217 

God was in them, and if he be a Christian, will re- 
gard the record of them as occupying one of the 
most blessed chapters in the history of the church, 
will nevertheless find just cause to weep that they 
should have been clouded so much by the mistakes 
and infirmities even of good men. But those good 
men (some of them at least) lived to be satisfied 
that they were in the wrong ; and it is to their honor 
that they acknowledged it ; and it were impossible 
to read the record of their acknowledgment, with- 
out feeling a sentiment of veneration for their cha- 
racters, and without wishing that the errors into 
which they fell, might, so far as they were them- 
selves concerned, be blotted from the memory of 
the church. 

I am aware, my friends, that in endeavoring to 
present before you the abuses to which revivals are 
liable, and with which they have always been, in a 
greater or less degree, connected, I am undertaking 
a task of peculiar delicacy ; and I confess to you, 
that nothing but a strong and honest sense of duty 
would have led me to attempt it. I will state to 
you the considerations which have arisen to occa- 
sion this reluctance, and the manner in which I 
have felt myself obliged to dispose of them. 

In the first place, I can hardly doubt that an at- 
tempt to expose these evils, may appear to some 
unnecessary. But so thought not the illustrious 
Edwards, when his discriminating and mighty mind 
was occupied in framing some of the most judicious 
treatises which the world has seen, for the very 

28 



218 LECTURE VIII. 

purpose of guarding against the abuses of revivals. 
On the title page of those books the church has 
written her own name, and she claims them as her 
property in a higher sense than almost any thing 
else except the Bible. And is it not manifest that 
that illustrious man judged rightly in composing 
them ; and that the church has judged rightly in the 
estimate she has formed of them ? For who does 
not perceive that if revivals of religion become 
corrupted, there is poison in the fountain whose 
streams are expected to gladden and purify ? And 
who that is competent to judge, will doubt that 
those treatises have done more than any other un- 
inspired productions, to maintain the purity of re- 
vivals, from the period in which they were written 
to the present ? If Edwards has rendered good ser- 
vice to the church by writing these immortal works, 
then surely it cannot be unnecessary for other mi- 
nisters to direct their humbler efforts to the same 
end. It is just as necessary now to distinguish be- 
tween true and false experience, and between right 
and wrong conduct in a revival of religion, as it 
ever has been in any preceding period; and the 
manner in which this duty is practically regarded, 
must always determine, in a great degree, the 
amount of blessing which any revival will secure. 

But it may be said also that what I am about to 
attempt should be avoided, because it is fitted to 
awaken controversy. I acknowledge that controver- 
sy on the subject of religion is not in itself desira- 
ble ; for it is exceedingly liable to wake up the bad 



LECTURE VIII. 219 

passions of men. Nevertheless, there are some cases 
in which we shall all agree that it is necessary to ha- 
zard the evils that may result from it. No being on 
earth ever awakened a more violent religious contro- 
versy than Jesus Christ ; but if it had not been for 
this, where now would have been our blessed Christi- 
anity ? So also Luther, and Calvin, and Zuingle, and 
Knox, and the whole host of Reformers, excited a 
controversy concerning religion which had well 
nigh set the world on fire ; but if it had never ex- 
isted, what evidence have you that the church would, 
to this hour, have witnessed the glorious Reforma- 
tion. President Edwards published his " Thoughts 
on Revivals," and other invaluable works in connec- 
tion with the same subject, at the expense of being 
denounced, even by some of his own brethren, as 
an enemy of revivals ; but these publications have 
served to correct and prevent great abuses ever 
since ; and if he had rendered the church no other 
service, for this alone she would have embalmed 
his memory. Controversy, then, though it is never 
to be desired for its own sake, cannot always be de- 
clined in consistency with Christian obligation ; or 
without putting at fearful hazard the best interests 
of the church. 

In the present case, however, permit me to say 
that I have no intention to excite controversy by at- 
tacking any man or body of men. The evils which 
I shall endeavor to expose, are none of them pecu- 
liar to any one denomination of Christians, or to 
any particular period of the church ; but they have 



220 LECTURE VIII. 

existed at various periods, and among different sects ; 
and there is always danger that they will exist from 
the very constitution of human nature. If it should 
be said that some of the remarks which I shall of- 
fer ought to be withheld, on the ground that they 
admit of application to an existing state of things 
in the church, I acknowledge that that seems to me 
a strong reason why they should not be withheld ; 
for if the abuses of which I shall speak actually do 
exist in our own times, we are in the greater danger 
of falling into them; and in the greater need of 
being guarded against them ; — ^whereas, if they were 
only evils of other days, I might, in speaking of 
them, seem to be beating the air. But I utterly 
disclaim all responsibility in respect to any particu- 
lar application. I only say that such abuses have 
existed — do exist; but my province in respect to 
them is, not to charge them upon any individuals, 
or upon any particular portion of the church, but 
to endeavor to guard you against them. The only 
point for which I hold myself responsible is, that 
these are really evils, and ought to be avoided. 

It may also occur to some, that an exhibition of 
the evils which are sometimes connected with revi- 
vals, may be fitted to injure the general cause, by 
leading many to the conclusion that if ministers 
themselves acknowledge that there is so much chaff 
in them, probably the whole is delusion ; and wor- 
thy to be regarded only with indifference or con- 
tempt. That some men may have taken refuge 
from the convictions of conscience in this misera- 



LECTURE VIII. 221 

ble delusion, far be it from me to question ; never- 
theless, I am constrained to believe that it is a rare 
case in which any good cause is ultimately injured, 
by telling the honest truth respecting it. Besides, 
you may be assured that the cause of revivals is far 
more likely to suffer by an attempt on the part of 
its friends to pass off every thing for gold, than by 
giving to that which is really dross its proper name. 
Suppose you should introduce a mere man of the 
world — if you please a man of high intellectual 
culture, into a revival in which there should be gross 
disorder and fanaticism ; and you should endeavor 
without any qualifying remarks, to impress him with 
the importance of the work that was going forward — 
it is altogether probable he would say, or at least 
think, if that were a revival, he had seen enough of 
it ; and if that were religion, the less he had of it, 
the better. But suppose you should say to him of 
all that is disorderly — " that is the mere operation 
of human infirmity or passion — the chaff mingling 
with the wheat ;" and of all that is good and praise- 
worthy — " that is the genuine operation of the Holy 
Spirit ;" and he would not improbably, in view of 
that distinction, acknowledge the reality and im- 
portance of the work. You cannot, even if you 
would, make sensible men think, in ordinary cases, 
that that is religion, or part of a revival of religion, 
which is not so ; and any attempt of this kind is 
exceedingly liable to awaken their hostility to the 
whole subject. Irreligious men are generally ready 
enough to admit the correctness of any distorted 



222 LECTURE VIII. 

accounts of religion, especially if they get them on 
so good authority as that of Christians themselves ; 
for every such account furnishes them with an ar- 
gument against the vrhole subject, and puts their 
consciences into a still deeper lethargy. 

And finally, I can suppose it may appear to some 
that any attempt to expose the evils incidentally 
connected with revivals, may be fraught with dan- 
ger, inasmuch as it is acknowledged, on all hands, 
that these evils exist among good men, and withal are 
connected with much that is praiseworthy ; and it may 
be thought safest to let the tares and wheat flourish 
together, lest an attempt to remove the former 
should expose the latter. As to the fact that the 
evils to which I refer have been found among truly 
devoted men, there is no ground for question. Even 
the well known Mr. Davenport, who was for awhile, 
an apostle of fanaticism, and who publicly denounc- 
ed, and prayed for by name, many of the most 
eminent ministers of New-England as the enemies 
of revivals, was nevertheless beyond a peradventure 
a good man ; and thought that in all his irregulari- 
ties he was faithfully serving his Master : but he did 
not think so always ; for he afterwards penitently 
and publicly acknowledged his error, and even jus- 
tified the severest censure which his conduct had 
received. Yes, I repeat, good men do fall into 
these excesses ; and so also good men are sancti- 
fied but in part. And as we do not fear that any 
scriptural endeavors to purify them from remaining 
corruption will exert a bad influence upon their 



LECTURE VIII. 223 

Christian graces, so we ought not to apprehend that 
any judicious efforts to correct the errors to which 
I refer, will serve in any degree to abate their truly 
Christian zeal and activity. There are cases, I ac- 
knowledge, in which great evils must be tolerated 
for a season, because any attempt to remove them 
would only make way for greater ones ; but nothing 
is more certain than that to tolerate evil in good 
men because they are good men, is directly contra- 
ry both to the spirit and letter of the gospel. And 
besides the very fact that there is much that is 
praiseworthy in their characters, and much that is 
benign in their influence, is a reason why we should 
do all in our power to remove whatever may, in 
any degree, impair their usefulness. We would 
treat good men in this respect as in every other : 
while we would acknowledge them good, we would 
strive to make them better and more useful. 

I have now stated to you the grounds of the de- 
licacy which I have felt in bringing this subject be- 
fore you on the one hand, and the grounds of my 
conviction that my duty as a Christian minister 
would not permit me to pass it by, on the other. 
Some of the evils to which I have referred in gene- 
ral, I proceed now more distinctly to consider. 

1. One prominent evil to be guarded against in 
a revival, is the cherishing of false hopes. 

I surely need not undertake to prove that this is 
an evil, and one of appalling magnitude ; for a false 
hope, at the gate of eternity, is a passport to hell ; 
and such a hope once indulged, is exceedingly apt 



224 LECTURE VIII. 

to hold its place till the last, though it sometimes 
lurks in the bosom, almost unobserved, even by the 
individual who is the subject of it. And where it 
is given up, it more commonly makes way for a 
kind of vague scepticism in respect to all experi- 
mental religion ; and steels the conscience, in a 
great measure, against future conviction. There 
are doubtless some who indulge a false hope, that 
are subsequently awakened, and become true Chris- 
tians ; but in general such a hope is undoubtedly 
the best security which the adversary could desire 
for keeping the soul under his entire dominion. 

Now I admit that in every case of supposed con- 
version, there is a liability to a false hope. Let a 
revival be conducted with as much wisdom as it 
may, and there is danger that there will be some 
cases of self-deception. And the reason is obvious. 
For the first evidence upon which the mind fas- 
tens, is a change of feeling. But some of the ope- 
rations of animal passion appear so much like 
truly gracious affections, that even advanced Chris- 
tians often mistake, in their endeavors to distin- 
guish between them. Certainly then, there is far 
greater danger that those who have had no experi- 
ence in religion, and who withal are eagerly look- 
ing out to catch the first gleam of evidence that 
they have been renewed — there is far greater dan- 
ger that they will mistake some accidental and joy- 
ous, yet temporary, commotion of the animal feel- 
ings, for the exercise of a principle of true piety. 
I am sure that every person who has been conver- 



LECTURE VIII. 225 

sant with revivals, must acknowledge that this is in 
accordance with fact. Who that has mingled even 
in the most genuine revival, has not witnessed, in 
some instances at least, a painful exemplification of 
the character of the stony ground hearers ; in 
whom, for a while, there was much that looked like 
religion, but because the principle was wanting, it 
all gradually withered away. 

Now if there is danger of the indulgence of a 
false hope in every case, there is special danger of 
it under particular circumstances. The change 
which takes place in conversion is of a moral na- 
ture ; it has its seat in the soul, and no where else. 
There is no natural connection between this change 
and any bodily postures or movements. If then 
the idea be held out, that conversion is usually as- 
sociated with the loss of bodily strength, or with 
any remarkable bodily motions, or that it is more 
likely to happen to an individual in one place or 
one posture than another, where the same truths 
are proclaimed, and the same prayers offered, there 
is great danger that this will lead to self-decep- 
tion ; — that, with unreflecting minds at least, that 
bodily exercise which profiteth little will be put in 
place of that godhness which has the promise of 
eternal life. There is danger that the individual 
will substitute what is considered an external ex- 
pression of anxiety for his soul, for the internal 
workings of genuine conviction; or if there be 
something of true conviction, there is danger that 
he will mistake the physical act of taking a particu- 
29 



226 LECTURE VIII. 

lar place or posture which is spoken of as pecuhar- 
ly favorable to conversion, for the spiritual act of 
yielding up the soul to the Saviour. 

Again: The instrument by which every conver- 
sion is effected is God's truth. If then ministers, 
during a revival, fail to hold up the truth in its 
distinctive and commanding features, and confine 
themselves principally to impassioned addresses, and 
earnest, exhortatory appeals, there is great reason 
to apprehend many spurious conversions. God 
requires, indeed, that the truth should be preached 
in an earnest manner ; but it must be the truth that 
is preached; and that only he will honor in the 
conversion of men. I appeal to the whole record 
of revivals for evidence, that where any thing has 
been substituted to any extent in place of this — 
where exhortation, instead of holding its proper 
place, has taken the place of instruction, there has 
been the least of sound, deep, abiding religious im- 
pression ; and there have been found the greatest 
number of hopeful converts, whose subsequent ex- 
perience has proved that they had no root in them- 
selves. 

Still farther : The change which the soul expe- 
riences in regeneration is a change of mighty im- 
port — nothing less than a new creation — old things 
passing away, and all things becoming new. Any 
course of instruction then, which should leave the 
impression that it may be accomplished indepen- 
dently of a divine influence ; or that a man has no- 
thing to do but to wish himself a Christian in order 



LECTURE VIII. 227 

to become one ; or that it is as easy to change 
one's heart from the love of sin to the love of holi- 
ness, as to change one's purpose in respect to any 
worldly concern, or to perform any physical act; — 
any such course of instruction, I say, must neces- 
sarily expose to self-deception: because it repre- 
sents the conversion of the soul to God as compa- 
ratively a small matter ; and if that impression be 
gained, how reasonable to expect that the indivi- 
dual should suppose himself converted when he is 
not so ! The way of effecting true conversions, no 
doubt, is, to represent the work to be done in all 
its magnitude ; and then to bring out the very mind 
of the Spirit in respect to the manner of doing it, 
and the means by which it is to be accomplished. 

I think you will agree with me, my friends, that 
in any of the circumstances which I have here sup- 
posed, there is special danger that sinners will take 
up with false hopes. There is yet another course 
of treatment which is extremely well adapted to 
cherish and confirm such hopes. Let the sinner 
who has actually deceived himself, hear his sup- 
posed conversion spoken of with as much confidence 
as if it were known to be a genuine one ; let him 
hear himself constantly numbered among the con- 
verts, and by those in whose judgment and experi- 
ence he confides ; let there be little or nothing said 
that implies the possibility of his being deceived, 
and let every thing that is done in respect to him, 
seem to take for granted that he stands on safe 
ground; and above all let him immediately be in- 



228 LECTURE VIII. 

troduced into the church; and if he ever wakes out 
of that delusion, beheve me, it will be little less than 
a miracle. This last step particularly is fitted, 
more than any other, to entrench him in a habit of 
self-security, which he will probably carry with him 
to his death-bed. 

2. Another of the evils to be guarded against in 
a revival is a spirit of self-confidence. 

Even advanced Christians are liable to this ; and 
sometimes exhibit it in a degree that is truly humilia- 
ting. While they are witnessing the powerful ope- 
ration of God's Spirit in the conviction and conver- 
sion of sinners, and are actively engaged in helping 
on the work, they lose sight in some degree, of the 
fact that they are but unworthy instruments ; and 
though there may be an acknowledgment of divine 
agency occasionally upon their lips, yet in their 
hearts they are really taking to themselves the glory. 
I need not speak of the manner in which this spirit 
discovers itself in the part which they bear in a re- 
vival, for no one who witnesses its operation can 
easily mistake it ; but I may say with confidence 
that wherever it exists, it mars the beauty, and de- 
tracts from the purity, and hinders the efficacy of 
the work. 

But I refer here more particularly to a self-confi- 
dent spirit, as it is often exhibited by young con- 
verts ; and let me say that the very same course of 
treatment to which I have just adverted as being 
fitted to cherish and confirm a false hope, is adapted 
to awaken even in those who have been truly con- 



LECTURE VIII. 229 

verted a spirit of self-confidence. This is a great 
evil, as it respects their own growth in grace. 
Wherever it exists there will be little of self-exami- 
nation ; little sense of the need of being constantly 
taught and guided by the Holy Spirit ; little of that 
humility which becomes a sinner redeemed by the 
blood of Christ, and saved by sovereign grace ; and 
I may add, little of that gratitude which looks in 
acts of faith and praise toward the Lamb that was 
slain. That there may be much of zeal connected 
with self-confidence in a young Christian, cannot 
be questioned ; though it may reasonably be doubted 
whether even that is altogether of heavenly origin : 
but whether it be so or not, it usually happens, where 
it is found in connection with this spirit, that the 
flame burns with diminished brightness until it has 
nearly died away. 

Nor is this spirit less prejudicial to the young 
Christian, as connected with his usefulness. In a 
young convert especially, nothing is so lovely as 
humility. Let him show by his deportment rather 
than by his professions, that he often turns his eye 
upon the hole of the pit from which he hopes he has 
been taken ; that if he has obtained mercy he feels 
that he deserves nothing but wrath; and that for 
aught he knows he may be indulging the hope of 
the hypocrite — certainly that he has much to do to 
make his calling and election sure ; — I say, let him 
manifest such a spirit in his conduct, and it will 
give him favor with all with whom he associates ; 
and it will secure him access to many hearts which 



230 LECTURE VIII. 

might otherwise be barred against his influence. 
But let him, on the other hand, speak of his con- 
version as if he vrere sure it was genuine ; let him 
refer with confidence to the very moment when it 
occurred ; let him talk of it as an event that has 
been brought about by mere human agency ; and 
let him say to others by his deportment, " Stand by, 
I am holier than thou ;" — and you may rest assured, 
especially if he be a young person, that he can 
have little hope of accomplishing much for the 
cause of Christ. There will be something in his 
very manner to repel those whom he should desire 
to win ; and though he may console himself in view 
of his unsuccessful efforts, by thinking and speak- 
ing of the obstinacy of sinners, yet it were more 
reasonable that he should humble himself that, if 
he be a Christian, his conduct, in this very particu- 
lar, indicates so much of remaining infirmity and 
corruption. 

3. Another lamentable evil incident to revivals, 
is a spirit of censoriousness. 

No doubt there is much in the conduct of many 
Christians and ministers, at such a time, to give just 
occasion for regret; and if they appear cold and 
worldly, it is only a Christian duty that we should 
affectionately admonish them of their error, and 
endeavor to render them more spiritual and active. 
But this is something quite different from that cen- 
sorious, denouncing spirit, to which I here refer ; 
which, though it be exercised in reference to reli- 
gion, is nothing better than the spirit of the world. 



LECTURE VIII. 231 

And it is easy to see how it gets into operation even 
in good men. Their minds are awake to the great 
subject of the soul's salvation ; and they are op- 
pressed by its amazing weight. They feel that 
something efficient ought to be done — must be done 
to wake up a slumbering world ; and they desire that 
all Christians should go along with them in their 
efforts. In this state of mind they are prepared for 
nothing but cordial co-operation ; and where they 
do not find it, corrupt nature takes advantage of the 
excitement they have reached, and the disappoint- 
ment they feel, and perhaps withal of a naturally 
ardent temperament, to discharge itself not only in 
grievous complaints, but sometimes even bitter in- 
vective. This is the most favorable account of the 
exercise of this spirit. There are other cases, no 
doubt, in which it is identified with a spirit of self- 
righteousness ; in which the secret and prevailing 
feeling of the heart is, that heaping censure upon 
others is an easy way of laying up treasure in 
heaven; that to complain of the coldness and 
worldliness of our fellow Christians, is an evi- 
dence of zeal and devotion in ourselves. But let 
this spirit have its origin in whatever state of mind 
it may, we shall all agree that it is a serious evil ; 
and ought to be guarded against with the utmost 
care. 

It is not uncommon to find this spirit marking the 
conduct of private Christians towards each other. 
There are some who will condemn their breth- 
ren as cold Christians, or perhaps even no Chris- 



232 LECTURE VIII. 

tians at all, because, with less of constitutional ar- 
dor than themselves, and possibly more prudence, 
they are not prepared to concur at once in every 
measure that may be suggested for the advancement 
of a revival ; or because they talk less of their own 
feelings than some others; or because they attend 
fewer public religious exercises than could be desir- 
ed; or because from extreme constitutional diffidence 
they may, either properly or improperly, decline 
taking part in such exercises. Many a Christian 
who has been laboring faithfully and judiciously for 
the salvation of sinners, whose closet has witnessed 
to the fervor of his devotion, and whose conversa- 
tion has been according to the gospel of Christ, 
has not only been suspected by his brethren of 
coldness, for some one or other of the reasons just 
mentioned, but has been marked, and denounced, 
and even prayed for, as dead to the interests of re- 
vivals, if not dead in trespasses and sins. 

On the other hand, it is not to be questioned that 
men of a cautious habit, who are constitutionally 
afraid of excitement, sometimes unjustly accuse their 
more zealous brethren of rashness, and impute to spi- 
ritual pride what really ought to be set to the ac- 
count of an honest devotedness to Christ. Espe- 
cially, if real and great abuses actually exist, they 
may be so much afraid of coming within the confines 
of disorder, that they may rush to the opposite ex- 
treme of formality ; and from that cold region they 
may look off upon the Christian who evinces no- 
thing more than a consistent and enlightened zeal, 



LECTURE VIII. 233 

and hail him as if he were burning to death in the 
very torrid zone of enthusiasm. 

The same spirit which discovers itself in private 
Christians toward each other, is also frequently 
manifest in respect to different churches. A church 
which is abundantly blessed with revivals, may con- 
demn with a high hand another church, in which, 
though religion may not be in a languishing state, 
yet there may never have been any general and 
sudden effusion of the Holy Spirit. And this may 
be attributed most unjustly to a cold ministry, or to 
some signal want of faithfulness in the members ; 
when the fact that the church is really in a flou- 
rishing state, (its interests being sustained by gra- 
dual, rather than by sudden accessions,) is entirely 
overlooked. And where there is not only the ab- 
sence of revivals, but the spiritual interests of a 
church are really depressed, it is still more com- 
mon to hear the case spoken of with an air of un- 
christian severity; and not unfrequently there is 
something like a sentence of reprobation passed 
upon the whole body, as if they were indiscrimi- 
nately a company of backsliders. Or where a 
church differs from another in its views of the eco- 
nomy of revivals, it may denounce that other as 
chilled with the frost of apathy on the one hand, 
or scorched with the fires of fanaticism on the 
other ; when, as the case may be, the church that 
is the object of censure may hold correct and scrip- 
tural ground. Any church, whether it be distin- 
guished by its zeal or its want of zeal, that takes 
30 



234 LECTURE VIII. 

the responsibility of dealing out violent censures 
upon its sister churches, especially if they are walk- 
ing in the faith and order of the gospel, certainly 
assumes a degree of responsibility which it can ill 
afford to bear ; and it will have no just ground for 
surprise, if it should meet a painful retribution, not 
only in bringing back upon itself the censures of 
men, but in bringing down upon itself the displea- 
sure of God. 

And I am constrained to go farther, and say that 
ministers have sometimes erred in the same man- 
ner ; judging each other as fanatics or as drones ; 
some supposing that their brethren were setting the 
world on fire, when they shed around them no 
worse light than that of sober consistent zeal ; and 
others that their brethren were in the very valley of 
death as it respects religious feeling, when the prin- 
ciple of spiritual life was beating in strong and vi- 
gorous pulsations. I will say nothing of what ex- 
ists on this subject in our own day; but I refer you 
to what has been in other days. I point you for 
examples to men who have long since been in their 
graves, and whose joy in the world of glory will 
not be interrupted by our learning wisdom from the 
imperfections of which they are now entirely free, 
and which they lived bitterly to lament. In the re- 
vivals which are recorded in the early part of the 
history of New-England, there were a considerable 
number of ministers, and among them the indivi- 
dual to whom I have already referred as distin- 
guished for his extravagance, who declared the 



LECTURE VIII. 235 

mass of their brethren to be unconverted men ; who 
denounced them as leading souls to hell ; and who 
endeavored, by every means in their power, to 
alienate from them their congregations, that they 
might bring them under the influence of what they 
regarded a more faithful ministry. This unhappy 
faction, from the nature of the case, was not of 
long continuance ; it could not be, because it lived 
upon the highest excitement; — but it lasted long 
enough to counteract, to a melancholy extent, the 
benign effects of that work of grace ; long enough 
to entail upon at least two generations, its destruc- 
tive consequences. If you read the history of 
those days, or rather of those men, there will be 
every thing to make you weep, until you come to 
the delightful fact that they saw their error, and ac- 
knowledged it, and wept over it themselves. 

I know of no way in which a censorious spirit 
can discover itself, whether in ministers or private 
Christians, that is so revolting, and I may say, 
dreadful, as in prayer. The fact must be acknow- 
ledged, humbling as it is, that men have some- 
times seemed to be pouring out at the foot of the 
throne their resentments against cold Christians and 
ministers; and have even assumed the office of 
judging their hearts ; and have told the Almighty 
Being, apparently for the sake of telling the con- 
gregation, that they were as dead as the tenants of 
the tomb. Brethren, no apology can be offered for 
this — not even the semblance of an apology. Chris- 
tian charity herself can record nothing better con- 



236 LECTURE VIII. 

cerning such a prayer, than that it breathes the spi- 
rit of the world in one of its most odious forms. 
Whatever degree of religious indifference may 
have called it forth, it certainly cannot furnish a 
juster cause for humiliation than does the prayer 
itself. 

4. Inconstancy in religion is another evil to be 
avoided in connection v^ith revivals. 

Men are exceedingly prone to vibrate from one 
extreme to the other ; and it is a law of human na- 
ture that a very powerful excitement, in respect to 
the same individuals, cannot long be sustained. 
Hence there is danger that Christians, from the ex- 
citement to which they are liable during a revival, 
will gradually fall into a state of spiritual languor, 
and will even give occasion for the cutting inquiry, 
" What do ye more than others ?" 

Now what might be expected, from the very ten- 
dencies of human nature to happen, we find, actu- 
ally does happen ; both in respect to individuals and 
churches. Who has not seen the Christian, during 
a revival, seeming to be constantly on the mount 
both of enjoyment and of action ; willing appa- 
rently to wear himself out in the service of his Mas- 
ter, and for the salvation of souls ; and in a few 
months after, comparatively silent, and inactive, 
and insensible on the great subject which had so 
lately occupied him almost to the exclusion of every 
other? And who that has been much conversant 
with revivals, has not seen a church, during one of 
these seasons of special blessing, waking up to a 



LECTURE VIII. 237 

lively sense of obligation, sending up united, and 
holy, and strong supplications, and laboring inces- 
santly with an eye now on the cross, and now on 
the judgment seat, and now on the crown of life ; 
and the same church, at a subsequent period, appa- 
rently forgetting their responsibility, becoming cold 
in their devotions, and relaxing in all their efforts 
for the salvation of men ? In the one case, you 
would have supposed from their fidelity, that they 
were marching on to a high seat in glory: in the 
other, you would, especially if you had turned your 
eye off from the Bible, have almost been ready to 
doubt the perseverance of the saints. 

Now wherever this state of things exists, it is a 
serious evil, both as it respects the church and the 
world. It is so to the church, because it mars the 
consistency and beauty of her character; lessens 
the amount of her communion with her Head ; and 
renders her light comparatively dim and feeble, 
when she is commanded to let it shine with a steady 
brightness. It is an evil to the world, inasmuch as 
it casts an air of suspicion, in the view of many, 
over the reality and importance of revivals ; and 
leads them to imagine that Christians work hard one 
day to purchase the privilege of doing nothing the 
next ; and that a revival is a matter to be got up 
and laid aside, at the pleasure of those who en- 
gage in it. It leads them, moreover, to think less 
than they otherwise would of the good influence of 
Christians when they attempt to exert it ; and when, 
in more favored seasons, they show themselves ac- 



238 LECTURE VIII. 

tive and endeavor to rouse up the sinner's slumber- 
ing conscience, not improbably their exertions will 
be unavailing from his recollection of their indiffe- 
rence at other times, and his impression that their 
zeal is a mere creature of circumstances. 

You will all agree with me that this is a great evil, 
and ought to be guarded against with the utmost 
caution. One means of avoiding it is, by endea- 
voring to keep down animal passion, especially at 
the height of the revival, when it is most likely to 
be awakened; for the stronger the excitement of 
the animal nature, the greater the tendency to a uni- 
versal re-action. Another means is, by endeavor- 
ing to keep up spiritual feeling when the general 
excitement attending a revival begins to pass away ; 
for that is the critical time when religious languor 
usually first creeps over the soul. By using the 
proper caution at these two points, the church may 
effectually avoid the evil which I am considering ; 
and instead of becoming listless at the close of a 
revival, she may show that she has renewed her 
strength for subsequent labors and conflicts. 

5. Another evil to be guarded against in connec- 
tion with revivals, is ostentation. 

I refer not here to the manner in which revivals 
are sometimes conducted, (having adverted to that 
already,) but to the manner in which they are rep- 
resented, both in common intercourse, and through 
the press : and I cannot doubt, that, in respect to 
both, there is much that no discreet Christian can 
contemplate without regret and disapprobation. 



LECTURE VIII. 239 

It is not uncommon, during the progress of a re- 
vival, and sometimes in an early stage of it, to hear 
its glorious results spoken of with as much confi- 
dence as if they had actually been realized. Parti- 
cular religious exercises which may have been at- 
tended with unusual solemnity, are represented as 
having secured the conversion not only of a great, 
but a definite number of souls. One is represented 
as having preached, another as having prayed, an- 
other as having talked, so many sinners into the 
kingdom. Perhaps the infidel has professed sud- 
denly to renounce his infidelity, and embrace the 
Saviour ; or perhaps the profligate has wept in view 
of his profligacy and resolved to enter upon a new 
life ; — these cases are confidently spoken of as in- 
stances of genuine conversion; and what is still 
worse, they are too often spoken of as such in the 
presence of the very persons who are the subjects 
of them. It is easy to see that, if the individuals 
are true converts, the eflfect of this must probably be 
to inflate them with spiritual pride ; if they are not 
true converts, it must fearfully aid the work of self- 
deception. It leaves a bad impression also upon 
the world ; for it is the exact opposite of that humi- 
lity, that sense of dependance, that disposition to 
acknowledge God in every spiritual blessing, which 
constitute some of the lovehest features of Christ- 
ian character. 

But what I chiefly refer to under this article, is 
the ostentatious complexion, and the premature 
date, of many of those narratives of revivals, which 



240 LECTURE VIII. 

are given to the world through our rehgious perio- 
dicals. It is only honest to acknowledge that ma- 
ny of them, though evidently dictated by a desire to 
do good, are yet eminently fitted to do evil. They 
are written in the midst of strong excitement, when 
the mind is most in danger of mistaking shadows 
for substances ; when its strong hopes that much is 
about to be done, are easily exchanged for a con- 
viction that much has been actually accomphshed. 
Hence all who are supposed to appear more seri- 
ous than usual, are reckoned as subjects of convic- 
tion; and all who profess the slightest change of 
feeling are set down as converts. And particular 
instances are detailed, in which very obstinate sin- 
ners have been made very humble, and then have 
become entranced with bright visions of the Sa- 
viour ; and other cases are mentioned, in which a 
child has pressed forward into the kingdom, in 
spite of the opposition of a wicked parent ; or a 
wife, notwithstanding she was persecuted by an un- 
godly husband. Now the narrative containing these 
particulars goes abroad into the world ; and almost 
of course comes back immediately into the congre- 
gation whose religious state it professes to describe. 
And what think you will probably be the effect ? — 
What will it be upon those who here find it an- 
nounced to the world that they have been convert- 
ed; and perhaps read a high wrought and glow- 
ing story of their conversion? What especially 
must it be on those who are represented as having 
been the subjects of a miracle of grace ; as having 



LECTURE VIII. 241 

been great sinners, and now having become great 
saints ? If they are really converted, the effect of 
this must be, as in the case just mentioned, to les- 
sen their humility, and open their hearts to tempta- 
tion. If they are cherishing a false hope, it can- 
not fail to add to its strength. And if, before the 
narrative meets them, as is a very supposable case, 
they have cast off their serious impressions and re- 
turned to the world, it must provoke and irritate 
them; and thus fearfully increase their obduracy, 
and render their salvation still more improbable. — 
And what effect will this be likely to have upon 
those who are designated, (if not by name, yet so as 
to be identified,) as having been distinguished for 
their malignant opposition to the work ? It will awa- 
ken in them the spirit of fiends. It wih embolden 
them to fight still more furiously against God and 
against his people ; and not improbably to do that 
which will seal their perdition. And what must its 
effect be upon the surrounding world ? What, when 
they compare the written statement with what has 
fallen under their own observation, and find a sad 
disagreement ? Must it not be to create and cherish 
a prejudice against all revivals ? Must it not throw an 
air of suspicion over every statement respecting 
them which they either hear or read ? Must it not 
even bring in question the veracity of good men ? 

You will by no means understand me as intimat- 
ing any disapprobation of publishing at a proper 
time even detailed accounts of revivals. So far 
from this, that I regard it as due to the church, 

31 



242 LECTURE VIII. 

due to the honor of him whom we acknowledge as 
the great Agent in revivals, that such accounts 
should in due time be sent forth. But let them not, 
in ordinary cases, be written, until the true results 
of the revival are in some measure known ; cer- 
tainly, let them be confined to palpable facts which 
no one can gainsay. Let them be framed with a 
deliberate recollection that they are to be scanned 
by multitudes; that they are to exert an influence 
either for or against the cause of revivals ; and that 
God is not honored, but offended, by the least at- 
tempt to go beyond the truth, even in recording 
the triumphs of his grace. It is a matter of impor- 
tance that all narratives of this kind should be fur- 
nished by competent and responsible persons — 
those who have opportunity to know the facts, and 
ability properly to estimate them. While it cannot 
be questioned that there are many instances at the 
present day, in which the evil of which I am speak- 
ing is strikingly exemplified, it is an occasion for 
joy that there are many other cases, in which revi- 
vals are detailed seasonably, judiciously, and in a 
manner fitted in all respects to subserve the cause 
of truth and piety. 

6. Undervaluing divine institutions^ and divine truths 
is another evil, which often exists in connection 
with revivals. 

It is common, and no doubt right too, during a 
season of special attention to religion, to increase 
the number of occasional services during the week ; 
and especially the number of meetings for social 



LECTURE VIII. 243 

prayer. And it is desirable that Christians should 
feel a deep interest in these exercises ; and should 
regard it as not less a duty than a privilege to en- 
gage in them, as their circumstances may admit. 
But they are not to be considered in the strict sense 
as divine institutions ; for though there is a fair 
v^arrant for them in the general spirit of the gospel, 
and, as we believe, even a direct sanction in apos- 
tolic usage, yet the regulation of them is a matter 
which God has been pleased to leave to the wisdom 
of the church ; and whenever Christians exalt them 
to an equality with those institutions which are 
strictly divine, they may expect to incur the displea- 
sure of the Master, as well as lose the benefit which 
these exercises are adapted, when kept in their pro- 
per place, to impart. But there is reason to appre- 
hend that many Christians, during a season of revi- 
val, actually do in their feelings, attach an impor- 
tance to these services which is even paramount to 
that which they recognise as belonging to the pub- 
lic exercises of the Lord's day. The secret feeling 
of the heart, there is reason to believe, often is, 
that to attend public worship on the Sabbath, though 
it is a duty, has yet too little in it that is distinctive 
and out of the common course, to be regarded with 
very deep interest ; whereas those services which 
are observed during the week, and which seem more 
like a free will offering, rise in their estimation to 
the highest degree of importance. There is in all 
this no doubt more or less of self-righteousness ; — a 
sort of unacknowledged and perhaps undetected 



244 LECTURE VIII. 

feeling, that the eye of God rests upon them even with 
more favor, when they are rendering him a service 
which he has left in some measure to their own dis- 
cretion, than when they are walking in the plain 
and broad path of his direct commandments. These 
occasional services, I repeat, are not to be under- 
valued ; for they are important helps, in every point 
of view, towards sustaining and carrying forward 
a revival ; but that we may reap the benefit they 
are designed to secure, we must give them no higher 
place than the great Head of the church has mani- 
festly assigned to them. 

And while there is danger that the social exerci- 
ses which the church may establish during a revival, 
may lead to too low a comparative estimate of the 
stated services of the sabbath, there is perhaps equal 
danger that they may bring into some degree of dis- 
regard the duties of the closet. Especially if these 
occasional exercises are greatly multiplied, the time 
which is requisite for attending them beside other 
duties of a more secular nature, may leave but little 
opportunity for self-communion, reading the scrip- 
tures, and private prayer; and there is reason to fear 
that, sometimes at least, the Christian makes a com- 
promise with his conscience for at least a partial neg- 
lect of these latter duties, by calling to mind his ex- 
emplary diligence and constancy in respect to the 
former. And besides, there is no doubt that it lays 
his powers under far less contribution, to be enga- 
ged in a constant round of social exercises which 
are fitted to excite the mind, than to enter into his 



LECTURE VIII. 245 

closet, and commune with himself, and apply the 
truths and precepts of the gospel for the regulation 
of his affections and conduct. It is to this practi- 
cal error, I doubt not, that we are to attribute in a 
great degree, the fact, that many Christians, who en- 
gage with much interest in a revival, still seem to turn 
it to so little account as it respects their own per- 
sonal piety. Nothing is more certain than that the 
neglect of closet duties, whatever other duties may 
be performed, must wither the believer's graces, and 
render his Christian character sickly and ineffi- 
cient. 

If you would avoid the evil which is here con- 
templated, and secure the good which is aimed at by 
those who incur the evil, let God's institutions be 
kept in their proper place. Regard the public ser- 
vices of the sabbath as far the most important which 
you can attend. Think it however a blessed privi- 
lege that you may meet for religious purposes fre- 
quently at other times ; but never let such meetings 
be a substitute for secret devotion. And if the ef- 
fect of them should ever be to keep you away from 
your closet, or to give you a disrelish for its duties, 
you need no other evidence that there is something 
wrong ; — either that your attendance on these so- 
cial services is too frequent, or not with the right 
spirit. 

Nor is there less danger that a revival may be 
perverted to the undervaluing of God's truth. At 
such a time especially men love to be excited ; and 
while those who hear the preaching of the word are 



246 LECTURE VIII. 

apt to delight in those stirring and earnest appeals 
which are most fitted to rouse the feelings, there is 
a strong temptation on the part of ministers to feed 
this passion for excitement by limiting themselves 
to a few topics of exhortation, rather than by hold- 
ing up gospel truth in all its extent and fulness. 
And in this way it often comes to pass, that there 
is an aversion contracted to instructive preaching ; 
the doctrines of the Bible come to be regarded, 
both by people and ministers, as comparatively 
tame ; and I hardly need say that, as a consequence, 
the ministry loses much of its real efficiency, and 
the piety of the church languishes for want of its 
appropriate nourishment. 

Nor is this all. It cannot be questioned that re- 
vivals are sometimes made the occasion not only of 
inspiring a disgust for sober scriptural doctrine, but 
of introducing into the church a flood of error. 
Ministers in seasons of great excitement, and in the 
desire of saying something that shall seize hold of 
the feelings, sometimes make unguarded expres- 
sions which involve some important error ; and if 
these expressions seem to be followed by good ef- 
fects, they are in danger of repeating them until 
they come really to adopt the error which is thus 
involved. And then again, the excited multitude 
in such circumstances are usually carried away by 
the appearance of great zeal and earnestness ; and 
he who evinces the most of these qualities is almost 
sure to be the favorite preacher ; and if he be dis- 
posed to commingle error with truth, there is every 



LECTURE VIII. 247 

probability that, in many instances at least, the one 
will be received with the other without inquiry or 
suspicion. Such has been the history of the intro- 
duction and progress of some of the wildest reve- 
ries and grossest errors which have disturbed the 
peace and marred the purity of the church. Let 
ministers and private Christians, those who preach 
and those who hear, be alike on their guard against 
this tremendous evil. 

7. There are certain things which sometimes oc- 
cur during a revival, that wee fitted to impair the dig- 
nity and lessen the influence of the ministerial ofiice ; — 
an evil which should always be guarded against 
with great caution. 

It must be acknowledged that ministers themselves 
not unfrequently contribute to this unhappy result. 
Sometimes they are carried away by strong excite- 
ment into the region of extravagance and even gross 
fanaticism ; and say and do things under this influ- 
ence, which in their cooler moments will take them 
to their closets for confession and humiliation. In 
other cases, they come perhaps honestly to the con- 
clusion that some new expedient is necessary to 
secure attention ; and the result is, that they come 
out with something which not only offends a cor- 
rect taste, but shocks all the finer sensibilities, or 
as the case may be, convulses the audience with 
laughter. Let a minister be as plain, as earnest, as 
faithful as he will ; — but the moment he violates the 
decorum due to the place in which he stands, or the 
work in which he is engaged ; the moment he in- 



248 LECTURE VIII. 

troduces or even tolerates any thing like confusion 
in the worship of God ; then, rely on it, he sins 
against the dignity of his office. He does that 
w^hich is fitted not merely to lessen his own influ- 
ence with all men of discreet and sober minds, but 
in the view of multitudes, he brings the ministerial 
office itself into contempt. There are enough who 
would be glad to take such a mistaken course as a 
sample of the deportment of ministers in general ; 
and a single instance of this kind furnishes them 
with a text book for censure and ridicule which 
they are sure to use to the best advantage. 

The same evil also frequently results from a vir- 
tual assumption of the sacred office, by men who 
have neither the proper warrant nor the requisite 
qualifications. Not that I would intimate that ju- 
dicious and intelligent laymen have nothing to do 
in public, beyond merely conducting the devotions 
of the congregation : I would have them, in many 
instances at least, ready to impart the word of ex- 
hortation ; and in private their labors may turn to 
great account in the way of counselling persons in 
different states of mind : but I would have it always 
borne in mind, that the ministry is an institution of 
God's appointment, and that the man who performs 
the appropriate duties of this office, without being 
regularly called to it, is chargeable with running 
before he is sent. And just in proportion as this 
is actually done — just in proportion as men set at 
naught the scriptural rules pertaining to order on 
this subject, you may expect to see the influence of 



LECTURE VIII. 249 

the ministry paralyzed. Let this be generally done, 
and who will yield to it the reverence which it 
claims as an institution of God ? 

8. There is danger, during a revival, of setting 
up false standards of Christian character. 

Men are perpetually prone to mistake the cir- 
cumstantials of religion for the substance of it. If 
this is owing partly to human infirmity, it is owing 
still more to human corruption ; — to an aversion 
from that self-denial which is involved in the prac- 
tice of the genuine Christian virtues. This tenden- 
cy frequently discovers itself even in good men; 
and perhaps never more frequently than during a 
season of revival. . 

There is special danger that, at such a time, the 
means of religion will be substituted for religion it- 
self. As means are of no importance in any other 
department of action, except as they are related to 
the end and may tend to secure it, so they are of 
no use in any other point of view in the department 
of religion. Means are of use as it respects the 
sinner, when they bring him to repentance ; and as 
it respects the Christian, when they build him up in 
faith and holiness; and any use of them which does 
not lead to these results, will aggravate the con- 
demnation of the one, and retard the sanctification 
of the other. But there is great reason to fear that, 
in seasons of revival, many Christians, in examin- 
ing themselves, and estimating their growth in 
grace, do not go much farther than to inquire how 
many meetings they have attended, or how many 
32 



250 LECTURE VIII. 

they have failed to attend. Instead of asking them- 
selves whether the means they are using are accom- 
plishing their end; whether their love, and faith, 
and humility, and all other Christian graces, are 
quickened, or deepened, or brightened, by what 
they are doing, they satisfy themselves with the bare 
use of the means ; and mistake a secret self-com- 
placency for the testimony of a good conscience. 
It is not uncommon to place the evidence of 
Christian character, especially during a revival, in 
talking abundantly and fervently on the subject of 
religion. True it is that out of the abundance of 
the heart the mouth speaketh; and it is impossible 
that religion should be in lively exercise in the soul, 
without giving a character to the conversation. But, 
at the same time, the mere fact that an individual 
makes the subject of religion a constant topic in cer- 
tain circumstances, and even dwells upon it with 
great fervor, is the most equivocal evidence of true 
piety that can be imagined. Who has not heard 
the man actually under the influence of the intoxi- 
cating cup, talk of his experiences and of his joys, 
as if he thought himself on the threshold of heaven ? 
And who has not been sometimes shocked in hear- 
ing glowing statements in respect to revivals of re- 
ligion, and deep lamentations over the coldness of 
Christians, and strong expressions of devotedness 
to Christ — who has not been shocked, I say, to find 
himself listening to a man, whose character he knew 
to be openly stained with pollution, or mai'ked by 
fraud or falsehood? I say then that while an entire 



LECTURE VIII. 251 

silence on the subject of religion reasonably sub- 
jects one's Christian character to great suspicion, a 
disposition to converse much upon it does not of it- 
self constitute any evidence of piety, or of growth 
in piety, that can be relied on. This is a matter 
vi^hich often depends more on constitutional tem- 
perament than any thing else. Of two Christians 
who have the same degree of grace, and have it in 
the same degree of exercise, one will speak out his 
feelings far more readily than the other, owing solely 
to a difference of original constitution. And what is 
a more striking case still, one being of a self-confi- 
dent turn, may talk like an angel about his hopes 
and his joys, and another, being constitutionally dis- 
trustful, may speak hesitatingly, and rarely at all, of 
his religious experience ; and yet the former may be 
a miserable hypocrite, the latter a devoted Christ- 
ian. But is it not true that in revivals especially, 
we are too prone to estimate the piety, both of our- 
selves and others, by this most uncertain standard ? 
Is there not often at least a lurking feeling that when 
we have talked most on the subject of religion, we 
have had the most evidence, and have given the 
most evidence, of being under its power ? 

I cannot avoid here adverting, in one word, to 
the use of a sort of technical phraseology relating 
to Christian experience and revivals of religion, 
which in some instances, is not only an outrage up- 
on taste, but is destitute of meaning. It may be 
said that it matters little what language we use on 
this subject, provided it be understood : but this is 



253 LECTURE VIII* 

not true; for if two expressions convey the same 
idea, and one is fitted to awaken prejudice or dis- 
gust in a large class of people, and the other is en- 
tirely unexceptionable with all, then it is not a mat- 
ter of indifference which of them should be used. 
Now it is not to be questioned that the cant phrase- 
ology which has gained such extensive prevalence 
in the church, in connection with revivals, is ex- 
ceedingly revolting to men of taste ; and there is 
reason to fear, in many instances, awakens a per- 
manent prejudice against the whole subject. And 
there is nothing gained to the lower classes by the 
adoption of this phraseology ; for no language can 
be more intelligible than that of the Bible and com- 
mon sense. But if I do not greatly mistake, the use 
of this phraseology which I am condemning, is in 
in many instances identified with a high tone of 
spiritual feeling. It is evidently regarded by many 
as indicating a deeper spirit of devotion, a more ear- 
nest desire for the salvation of souls, in short more 
of the spirit of a revival, than would be indicated by 
the use of the simple and pertinent language suppli- 
ed by God's w^ord. But never was there a greater 
mistake. The best that can be said of it is, that it 
is a departure from the dignity that belongs to the 
whole subject of religion. 

You will perceive at once that the effect result- 
ing from these arbitrary standards of Christian cha- 
racter, must be unfavorable to the cause of truth 
and holiness. It is unfavorable upon Christians ; 
for while it greatly interferes with their own reli- 



LECTURE VIII. 253 

gious improvement, it usually awakens among them 
a spirit of censoriousness towards each other. Its 
tendency in respect to sinners is to put them on a 
course of self-righteous effort, and thus to expose 
them fearfully to self deception. Let this evil then 
ever be cautiously avoided. Let Christians remem- 
ber that, in a season of revival as well as in a sea- 
son of coldness, the evidence of piety is to be sought 
in the fruits of the Spirit. And let sinners remem- 
ber that no degree of attendance on means, no de- 
gree of animal fervor, can be substituted for repent- 
ance of sin and faith in the Saviour ; that the exist- 
ence of the former does not constitute the least evi- 
dence of the existence of the latter. 

9. The last of the evils against which I would 
put you on your guard in connection with revivals, 
is corrupting the purity of the church. 

We have indeed no right to expect that the church, 
during its militant state, will ever be entirely free 
from corruption ; though this does not at all lessen 
our obhgations to do all we can to render it so. 
The efficiency of a church depends greatly on its 
purity. Even if it consist of only a little band, and 
yet be eminent for its consistency and spirituality, 
it will exert an extensive and salutary influence. 
But let its numbers be increased to any extent, if 
it embrace a great amount of spurious religion, it 
will diffuse around it but a feeble and uncertain 
light. Every such accession is an accession of 
fresh weakness. Men who are destitute of religion 
had far better be out of the church than in it; for 



254 LECTURE vm. 

whether they come in as cold formalists or heated 
fanatics, they will bring with them the spirit of the 
world in some form or other ; and whatever their 
worldly rank niay be, their influence will injure 
rather than assist the cause of piety. Let the 
church receive to her communion a large number 
who have deceived themselves with false hopes, 
knowing nothing of the power of rehgion ; and it 
will be strange if she does not soon find that her 
most formidable foes are those of her own house- 
hold. She may calculate that the time is not dis- 
tant when she will find her own members corrupt- 
ing the purity of the faith ; — ^when she will see them 
bound up in the frost of a heartless formality, and 
even resisting so far as they dare, her own efforts 
to promote the cause of Christ ; when, in a word, 
she will be compelled frequently to exercise her 
discipline, or grievously to neglect her duty. 

Now there is one course which is often adopted 
in connection with a revival which is sure to bring 
in its train this great evil — I refer to the practice of 
admitting persons to the communion with little or no 
probation. Experience has long since taught us 
that there are many at such a time whose feelings 
are excited and apparently changed, and who give 
promise of being devoted to Christ, who neverthe- 
less within even a short time, relapse into their for- 
mer indifference, and neither consider themselves, 
nor are considered by others, as furnishing the least 
evidence of Christian character. These persons 
not being received into the church, are ready enough 



LECTURE VIII. 255 

to acknowledge that they have lost their interest in 
religion ; but let them be thus received, and though 
you will hear from them no such acknowledgment, 
the real fact in respect to their condition will be the 
same. Hence we are forbidden to doubt that where 
the custom prevails of admitting persons to the com- 
munion almost immediately after they are supposed 
to be converted, many must be received who are 
no better than were the stony ground hearers. I 
know it is said in favor of this practice that it ori- 
ginated with the Apostles ; and that Peter received 
to the church the three thousand who were con- 
verted on the day of Pentecost, without waiting to 
test their characters. But I know too that that 
case cannot be pleaded as a precedent for a similar 
course now, because the circumstances by which it 
was marked, do not exist at the present day. To 
make a profession of Christianity then, was to ex- 
pose one's self, not merely to reproach and oblo- 
quy, but to the rack and the stake ; and it were im- 
possible to conceive of any higher evidence of sin- 
cerity than such a sacrifice would involve. But 
now the fact of confessing Christ before the world 
injures no man's character in the view of any one; 
and it is a rare case that it exposes to any personal 
inconvenience ; so that, of itself, it can scarcely be 
said to furnish the least evidence of Christian cha- 
racter. Let the church, then, as she values her 
own purity and efficiency, beware of prematurely 
receiving those whom she considers the fruits of re- 
vivals to her communion. Not that she will be 



256 LECTURE VIII. 

able, at any period, to make an exact separation 
between the chaiF and the wheat: but it is a duty 
that she owes not only to herself but to her exalted 
Head, to make that separation as accurately as she 
can. 

Such are some of the evils with which revivals 
of religion may be — have been connected. I have 
dwelt upon this subject at considerable length, not 
because it is a subject the most grateful to Christian 
contemplation, but because, to my own mind at 
least, it possesses an importance of which we can 
scarcely form too high an estimate. It were far 
more pleasant to speak of the blessings of revivals, 
and of the triumph of the cause of revivals, than of 
the evils which, through the weakness or corruption 
of human nature, may be associated with them. 
But I cannot resist the impression that, in order to 
realize the highest amount of blessing which they 
are fitted to secure, we must testify against their 
abuse, and endeavor to keep them in their purity. 
I invite you then, my Brethren, one and all, to la- 
bor according to your ability, not merely in the 
promotion of revivals, but in preventing the evils 
with which they are so often connected; for in 
doing so, you not only contribute greatly to the ul- 
timate good influence of every such work of grace, 
but you disarm men of their prejudices against the 
cause of revivals, and thus remove at least one ob- 
stacle in the way of their salvation. If we knew 
all who had rushed into infidelity in consequence of 
what they have seen and heard in connection with 



LECTURE VIII. 257 

revivals, I fear we should be overwhelmed by the 
discovery; and as we would save souls from death 
rather than multiply the temptations to self-destruc- 
tion, we are bound to watch, and pray, and labor, 
that whatever assumes the sacred name of a revival, 
may be worthy of the character which it professes 
to bear. 

Do you ask what you have to do in relation to 
this subject ? I answer, when God pours down his 
Spirit in the midst of you, you have much to do in 
preventing some or other of these various evils ; 
and this you are to effect by a constant and watchful 
observation of the state of things around you, and 
by subjecting every thing that is proposed to be 
done to the simple test of God's word. You may 
also exert a general influence beyond your own im- 
mediate sphere ; by having your views of this sub- 
ject clear and settled, and expressing them tempe- 
rately, yet firmly, as occasion may require. But 
be careful never to mingle in the expression of your 
views, the least unkind or unchristian feeling. 
Though you may consider your brethren in some 
respects wrong, and may frankly tell them so, yet 
you are to do it in the spirit of Christian charity, 
and cheerfully give them credit for their full amount 
of usefulness. It were greatly to be lamented if 
any of us, in our endeavors to correct the errors of 
others, should fall into a still greater one ; should 
forfeit our claim to that charity which hopeth and 
beareth all things. 

33 



258 LECTURE VIII. 

Brethren, I anticipate for the cause of revivals a 
glorious triumph; and one ground of this expecta- 
tion is, that the friends of revivals will labor dili- 
gently for the promotion of their purity. I cast 
my eye toward the millenial age, and I witness these 
scenes of divine love and mercy going forward with 
such beauty and power, that the eyes of angels are 
turned towards them with constantly increasing de- 
light. I see the pure gold shining forth in its 
brightness, and the dross thrown aside and esti- 
mated at nothing. I see the chaff burnt up in the 
fire, or flying off on the winds, while the wheat is 
pure, and ripe, and ready for the garner. I see 
Christians every where co-operating with God for 
the salvation of men, in the very ways he has him- 
self marked out ; and while he pours out his rich 
blessings on the church, the church sends back her 
thanksgivings and praises to Him in the Highest. 
May God in mercy hasten this blessed consumma- 
tion ! And may you and I, whom he permits to la- 
bor in his cause, count it an honor that we are pri- 
vileged to direct our efforts towards this high end, 
and to anticipate with confidence a glorious result ! 



LECTURE IX. 



RESULTS OF REVIVALS. 



Revelation v. 13. 

Blessing, and honor, and glory , and power, be unto him that sitteth 
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever. 

This is the new song that was heard by John in 
vision, as a response from the whole creation, to 
the subhme anthem which had just before trembled 
on the harps and lips of the general assembly and 
church of the first born. The heavenly host, in- 
cluding the angels and the redeemed, shout forth 
their praises in this noble song : — " Worthy is the 
Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and riches, 
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, 
and blessing." All nature instantly becomes vocal, 
and sends back her amen to this loud, and thrilling, 
and extatic acclamation. " And every creature 
which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the 
earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in 
them, heard I saying. Blessing, and honor, and glory, 
and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, 
and unto the Lamb forever and ever." 



260 LECTURE IX. 

In the series of discourses of which the present 
is to form the conclusion, I have endeavored to pre- 
sent before you what seems to me the scriptural 
view of most of the leading topics connected with 
revivals of religion. I have attempted to show the 
nature of a genuine revival, and the characteristics 
by which it is distinguished; to defend revivals 
against the cavils of those who oppose them; to 
note the circumstances which are unfavorable to 
their progress ; to consider the agency of God on 
the one hand, and the instrumentality of the church 
on the other, in carrying them forward ; to exhibit 
an outline of the treatment that is due both to the 
awakened sinner and the hopeful convert ; and last 
of all, to guard you against the evils to which revi- 
vals, through the weakness and corruption of hu- 
man nature, are liable to be perverted. It only 
remains to direct your attention, in the present dis- 
course, to the RESULTS of revivals ; partly in their 
gradual and partial developement, and partly as they 
will be seen, when the cause shall have gained its 
complete triumph. And in taking up this subject 
in this connection, we pass from a theme the least 
grateful to one that is most grateful to the Chris- 
tian's heart : we turn our back upon a region of 
misgivings, and difficulties, and discouragements, 
and enter a field of hope, and light, and glory. 

But you will ask, perhaps, in what manner the 
glorious hymn of praise which I have selected as a 
text, can be considered as pointing to the results of 
revivals of religion ? I answer, it is a hymn in 



LECTURE IX. 261 

which the church on earth may very properly unite 
in celebrating the triumphs of God's grace as they 
have been manifested in the blessed effects of 
revivals already. It is the tendency of revivals 
to prepare multitudes for taking up this noble song 
even here, and continuing to repeat it with in- 
creasing melody and rapture for ever. And more- 
over it is the song in which the ransomed in glory 
are to celebrate through eternity the praises of re- 
demption ; and of course the triumph of the cause 
of revivals, in which the purposes of God's redeem- 
ing mercy will have gone so wonderfully into effect. 
Whether, therefore, we consider this as a song of 
triumph from the church on earth, or as the ever- 
lasting song of the redeemed in heaven, it will, in 
either case, justify the train of thought into which 
I purpose to lead you in respect to the results of 
revivals. These results I will endeavor to present 
before you as they are developed, 

I. In the present world : 

II. In the world of glory, 
I. In the present world. 

The grand result to w^hich revivals are here tend- 
ing is the complete moral renovation of the world. This 
result is to be accomplished, 

1. By their direct influence, in elevating the intel- 
lectual, spiritual, and social condition of men. 

There is a sluggish tendency in the human mind 
which it often requires a severe shock effectually 
to counteract. Most men choose almost any other 
labor rather than the labor of thought ; and hence 



262 LECTURE IX. 

no doubt many an individual in whom there is the 
germe of a noble mind, never actually rises above 
a very moderate intellectual stature. Now it is the 
tendency of a revival of religion to bring the facul- 
ties into vigorous exercise. Let the Spirit of God 
be poured out upon a community, and you will find 
that the public mind there is in a wakeful state; 
that men seem to have lost their aversion to think- 
ing, and have shaken off their accustomed sluggish- 
ness, and are earnest in making inquiries, and can- 
not rest till those inquiries are answered. There is 
an intellectual excitement at such a time pervading 
the whole community ; for while convinced sinners 
are set upon a course of deep and earnest thought 
in respect to their salvation, the minds of Christians 
are laid under contribution by the demand that is 
made upon them for counsel and aid; and even 
those who are not specially awakened by the Holy 
Spirit, are usually to a greater or less extent, brought 
into the posture of reflection or inquiry. And the 
subject which occupies the mind in this case, let it 
be remembered, is of the noblest kind. The intel- 
lect no doubt may be vigorously employed upon 
subjects of an unimportant character, and the exer- 
cise which it thus receives, may serve to develope 
and quicken its powers ; but in a revival of religion, 
the subject also is fitted not only to develope and 
quicken, but to elevate ; for it brings the mind in 
contact with higher orders of being and higher 
states of existence. Yes, in such a scene, men are 
not only trained to deep reflection, but to reflection 



LECTURE IX. 263 

upon matters of infinite moment ; and the intellect 
and the heart get warm together; and while the 
deep and strong sensibilities of the soul are roused 
by means of the light that blazes in the understand- 
ing, the feelings in turn send back into the mind an 
influence that is fitted to render its perceptions more 
distinct and vivid. I appeal to the subjects of re- 
vivals every where for evidence of the fact, that 
the mind is never more active than during a season 
of the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit. 

But revivals of religion are favorable to intellect- 
ual culture, not only as they bring the mind at the 
time into vigorous exercise, but as they originate 
in the subjects of them moral feelings and habits 
which are peculiarly favorable to the acquisition of 
useful knowledge. Every true subject of a revi- 
val has been brought to realize that his intellectual 
powers and all the means he enjoys for their im- 
provement, are a talent from the great Master, for 
which he will be responsible ; and this impression 
will of course be favorable to the highest degree of 
diligence. And then again, that calm state of the 
affections which is thereby induced, is peculiarly 
favorable to a habit of intellectual abstraction, and 
to all high mental efforts : and hence I should ex- 
pect with great confidence that of two individuals, 
one of whom had been a sharer in the blessed 
effects of a revival, and the other was a stranger to 
the power of religion — other things being equal — 
the former would be far more successful in ac- 
quiring any branch of useful knowledge than the 



264 LECTURE IX. 

latter ; besides the fact that in the one case there 
would be a security, and in the other none, that the 
acquisitions which were made would be consecrated 
to the cause of truth, virtue and happiness. And 
what would be true of a single subject of a revival, 
would be true of its subjects generally : they have 
experienced an influence which is fitted more than 
any thing else to bring out their intellectual ener- 
gies, and give them a right direction. 

Moreover, as it is the tendency of a revival to im- 
press those who share in it with their obligations to 
cultivate their own powers as God gives them oppor- 
tunity, it is adapted also to awaken in them an active 
desire for the general promotion of useful know- 
ledge. For though they know that knowledge is ca- 
pable of being perverted to the worst purposes, and 
renders a bad man a much more formidable enemy to 
the cause of virtue and happiness than he could be 
without it ; yet they also know that knowledge in 
itself is an important auxiliary to that cause ; and 
that it were as unreasonable to object to it because 
it is occasionally perverted to bad ends, as it would 
be to call in question the utility of the sun, because 
in his march through the heavens he sometimes 
lights the path of the robber or the assassin. Hence 
we find that in our own country at least, many of 
the most active promoters of useful knowledge at 
the present day are to be found among those who 
have been practically taught the great lesson of hu- 
man responsibility in a revival of religion ; and it is 
reasonable to conclude that in the progress of re- 



LECTURE IX. 265 

vivals not only religious knowledge, but every other 
species of knowledge that is fitted to adorn and 
bless society will be regularly advanced. 

But if revivals serve to elevate the intellectual 
condition of men, they operate still more benignly 
as well as powerfully upon their spiritual condition. 
All who are the subjects of them, were previously 
lying under the curse of God, and exposed to his 
everlasting displeasure. They were polluted in 
their whole moral nature ; were liable not only to 
the fierce upbraidings of a guilty conscience, but to 
the tyranny of worldly lusts, and sometimes even 
to a storm of malignant passion. In the hour of 
affliction they had no refuge; in the prospect of 
death, they saw nothing but agony — to say nothing 
of the agony of dying forever. And what has the 
revival done for them ? It has changed their rela- 
tions to God, and brought them within the arms of 
his forgiving mercy, and filled their hearts with the 
spirit of adoption, and opened their lips in thanks- 
giving and praise. It has clothed them with the 
beauties of a renovated nature, has delivered them 
from their bondage to the earthly, and brought 
them into close alliance with the heavenly ; it has 
secured to them living consolation in all their 
trouble, and given them a pledge that there shall 
be nothing to harm them even in the valley of 
death. And those who had already begun to live 
for God, it has quickened to a higher tone of feel- 
ing and action, impressing upon them more deeply 
their Redeemer's image, and rendering them more 

34 



266 LECTURE IX. 

fit to breathe the atmosphere of heaven. This it 
has done not for a solitary individual, or for a few 
individuals only, but for a multitude ; thus chang- 
ing the spiritual condition sometimes of entire 
families, and not unfrequently of a large part of an 
extensive community. True it is that this change 
relates especially to the hidden man of the heart, 
and is for the most part beyond the reach of mor- 
tal vision ; but it is not the less real — not the less 
momentous : indeed it may be considered in an im- 
portant sense, as the germe of all the blessing which 
a revival of religion secures. 

Equally true is it that the influence of a revival 
extends to the social condition of men. Intelli- 
gence and virtue are the the two main springs of 
public happiness. But we have already seen that 
it is the tendency of revivals to put the mind into 
active operation on the one hand, and to purify the 
fountains of moral conduct on the other. If the 
heart is changed from the love of sin to the love of 
holiness, it must necessarily result that this change 
will discover itself in all the Christian virtues ; in 
that very course of conduct which makes man a 
blessing to his fellow man, and converts all his so- 
cial relations into so many channels of benign and 
healthful influence. Hence it is found, in point of 
fact, and in instances almost innumerable, that a 
revival has renovated not only the moral but physi- 
cal aspect of a community ; has driven away vice ; 
has encouraged industry ; has given a spring to in- 
telligence ; and has caused the social virtues to 



LECTURE IX. 267 

look forth in smiles, where chilHng selfishness, or 
hateful discord, or unblushing crime, seemed to 
have established a perpetual reign. 

Revivals also exert an influence in favor of social 
happiness, somewhat less direct, but not less effi- 
cient, as they have a bearing on the whole machi- 
nery of civil government. This is an engine of 
tremendous power; and must almost of course se- 
cure to a people great good or bring upon them 
great evil ; and which side of the alternative is to 
be realized in any given case, must depend on the 
character of the rulers on the one hand, and the 
character of the people on the other. Revivals 
number among their subjects not a few men of 
intellectual distinction, who are qualified for the 
higher stations in society; and there are many 
others equally gifted, whose character they help to 
form and elevate, who nevertheless do not profess 
to have realized their highest benefit. And while 
the influence of revivals eminently fits these men 
for office, by bringing them under the power of mo- 
ral or Christian principle, it is also some pledge of 
their elevation to office, as it serves to enlighten 
and purify moral sentiment throughout the commu- 
nity. And after they are actually elevated to pub- 
lic stations, the same influence will make them ho- 
nest, and resolute, and faithful to their convictions 
of duty, even in the worst of times ; while on the 
other hand it will cherish in subjects a spirit of 
obedience, and lead them to co-operate with their 
rulers for the accomplishment of all the good ends 



268 LECTURE IX. 

of government. Let the true spirit of revivals pre- 
vail through our land, and we shall deserve, in re- 
spect to our social and civil interests, far more than 
we now do, the appellation of " a happy people." 

But while such is the immediate effect of revivals 
upon our own public interests, I can not resist the 
impression, that the revivals in this country are 
destined to exert a more remote influence in ad- 
vancing the general cause of human society through- 
out the world. Where is even the superficial ob- 
server of human affairs, who does not perceive that 
the signs of the times, in respect to the European 
nations, tell fearfully of revolution? Who needs 
be told that the fabric of society in those nations, 
which has stood firm amidst the shocks of past 
ages, begins now perceptibly to totter; and that 
the day is probably at hand, when their civil insti- 
tutions will be remodelled, and the whole face of 
society receive a new aspect? Now I do not sup- 
pose that I claim too much for our country, when 
I say that the eyes of the nations will be more likely 
to be directed to her as a model of social and civil 
renovation than any other country on earth. It is 
no improbable supposition then that the influence of 
our revivals — these very scenes of divine power 
and grace in which we are permitted to mingle — 
may dart across the Atlantic, and be felt at the very 
springs of society there. Yes, those institutions 
to which, under God, we owe so many of our bless- 
ings, and which are sustained, in a degree at least, 
by the influence which comes from revivals, may 



LECTURE IX. 269 

be adopted by other nations, until there shall be no 
nation that does not rejoice in their light. The 
testimony of God forbids us to doubt that there is 
a period approaching when the social state of man 
every where, will have reached a point of improve- 
ment far beyond what has ever yet been attained by 
any people. When the light of the millenial morn- 
ing dawns upon the world, it may be easier than 
now to form an estimate of the results of revivals 
in giving proportion, and beauty, and strength, to 
the edifice of human society. But, 

2. Revivals tend towards the complete moral 
renovation of the world, hy enlarging the moral re- 
sources^ and quickening and directing the moral ener- 
gies of the church. 

The church is much indebted to revivals for the 
increase both of her numbers and her graces* Ob- 
serve this influence as it is often exerted in indi- 
vidual cases, and on the spiritual interests of parti- 
cular communities of Christians. It were no diffi- 
cult matter to find many instances which have oc- 
curred in these latter years, in which hundreds, 
during a single revival, have hopefully become the 
subjects of renewing grace ; and a large proportion 
of them at least, have subsequently evinced the re- 
ality of their conversion by a holy life. And in 
many of these cases, a church which before barely 
had an existence, has not only been saved from ut- 
ter extinction, but has been enlarged by great ac- 
cessions to its numbers and influence ; and not un- 
frequently has been enabled to supply itself with 



270 LECTURE IX. 

what before it did not enjoy — the stated adminis- 
tration of Christian ordinances. And if the influ- 
ence of a revival be so great and good as it respects 
particular instances and individual churches, what 
shall we say of the influence of all the revivals 
which take place during a single year ; much more 
of all which have hitherto existed, as well as those 
which are hereafter to exist, before the world shall 
be filled with the glory of the Highest ? How many 
new churches are probably destined to grow up un- 
der this influence ! How much is the standard of 
Christian character — of humility, of zeal, of devo- 
tion, of every thing that pertains to practical godli- 
ness, yet to be elevated in consequence of these 
glorious effusions of the Holy Ghost ! What an im- 
mense number will have been brought to the table 
of the Lord, and will have been enlisted actively in 
his service, and will count it an honor to wear 
themselves out in his cause, who, but for revivals 
of religion, might have continued to turn their 
backs upon the Saviour, and even have openly op- 
posed the interests of his kingdom ! And how much 
is our idea of the influence of revivals heightened, 
when we recollect that it is constantly accumula- 
tive ; that those who are the subjects of one revival, 
are prepared to labor, and actually do labor, for 
the promotion of others ; and the subjects of these 
revivals in turn address themselves to the same 
work; and so on in an uninterrupted succession, 
until the Redeemer shall have seen the travail of his 
soul, and been fully satisfied. 



LECTURE IX. 271 

Again : Revivals increase the efficiency of the Chris- 
tian ministry ; both by increasing the quahfications 
of those who are engaged in it, and by bringing 
others to give themselves to the work. They serve 
to raise the tone of ministerial qualification. A 
minister can learn that in a revival which he can 
scarcely learn in any other circumstances. There 
he enjoys advantages which he can have no where 
else for becoming acquainted with the windings of 
the human heart; for ascertaining the influence of 
different truths upon different states of feeling ; for 
learning how to detect false hopes, and to ascer- 
tain and confirm good hopes ; and I may add, for 
getting his soul deeply imbued with the true spirit 
of his work. Accordingly, it has often been re- 
marked that ministers, after having passed through 
a revival, have preached, and prayed, and done 
their whole work with far more earnestness and ef- 
fect than before ; and they themselves have not un- 
frequently acknowledged that what they had gained, 
during such a season, has been worth more to them 
than the study of years. 

But revivals contribute also to increase the num- 
ber of ministers. They are the means of introduc- 
ing many young men of talents and promise into 
the kingdom of Christ ; not a small part of whom 
consecrate themselves to him in the ministry of re- 
conciliation. As the population of our own coun- 
try is so rapidly advancing, and as the church is 
waking up to the spiritual desolation both of 
Christendom and of the Pagan world, it is mani- 



272 LECTURE IX. 

fest that an immense number of ministers are want- 
ed, and are likely to be wanted, to meet this con- 
stantly increasing demand. Now then if it were 
not for our revivals, we can see no alternative but 
that the great work must stand still for want of la- 
borers, or else it must be prosecuted by men who 
lack the most essential of all qualifications. But 
here, blessed be God, we are saved from both sides 
of this miserable alternative. We have young 
men — truly devoted, as well as in many instances, 
eminently gifted young men, offering themselves to 
the work ; and most of the younger ministers of the 
present generation — as well those who have gone 
abroad as those who labor at home — date their con- 
version to some revival ; and as the cause of revi- 
vals advances in coming years, we cannot doubt 
that there will be a constantly increasing number 
directing their eye towards the sacred office, until 
the Saviour's command shall actually be obeyed to 
preach the gospel to every creature. 

Revivals also lend an important influence to the sup- 
port of our benevolent institutions. It is by means of 
these especially that the gospel is to be sent abroad 
to the ends of the earth ; and the kingdom of Christ 
every where to be established. When you view the 
inroads which have already been made upon the ter- 
ritories of darkness and sin ; when you cast an eye 
toward the wilderness, and see it beginning to assume 
the aspect of moral renovation; when you look 
off upon the dominions of Paganism, and see how 
many idol gods have fallen from their thrones, how 



LECTURE IX. 273 

many have exchanged rites of superstition and cru- 
elty for a pure and rational worship of the true 
God, how many Christian churches and Christian 
schools are already established, and how many Bi- 
bles and tracts are in circulation ; — when you wit- 
ness all this, I say, you behold nothing which has 
not been accomplished by the benevolent institu- 
tions either of this or of other lands. Now, this 
moral machinery, so far as our own country at 
least is concerned, is evidently to be sustained and 
increased chiefly through the influence of revivals. 
Each individual who is converted to God is a new 
laborer in this glorious cause ; and the multitudes 
who already are, or hereafter will be, born into the 
kingdom, must bring to it an amount of influence 
of which we can form no adequate conception. 
Besides, it is the tendency of revivals to make those 
who are already Christians address themselves with 
more vigor and efficiency to this work ; for while, 
what they witness and experience in such a scene 
is fitted to increase their general spirituality, it is 
especially adapted to make them feel more deeply 
the value of the soul, and the importance of labor- 
ing for its salvation abroad as well as at home to 
the extent of their power. Yes, my friends, it is 
amidst the effusions of the Spirit of God that men 
are trained to engage actively and efficiently in the 
great enterprise of Christian benevolence : here 
they are to have their hearts and their hands open- 
ed in behalf of those who are sitting in the region 
and shadow of death : here they are to catch that 

35 



274 LECTURE IX. 

spirit of zeal, and self-denial, and holy resolution ^ 
which will lead them to attempt great things, and 
by God's blessing to accomplish great things, to- 
wards the moral renovation of the world. I hardly 
need say that all our great benevolent institutions — 
our Missionary, and Bible, and Tract, and Educa- 
tion, and Temperance, and all kindred societies, 
have flourished most where the influences of God's 
grace have been most abundantly experienced ; and 
I am sure that every thing in the aspect of Provi- 
dence indicates that the spirit of revivals and the 
spirit of public charity are hereafter to go hand in 
hand — the one being sustained and cherished in a 
great degree by the other, until the earth shall be 
filled with the Redeemer's glory. 

There is one institution which the church uses 
with greater effect than almost any other, which, 
in this country, at least, derives its efficiency in no 
small degree from the influence of revivals — I mean 
the sahbath school. In order to impart to this insti- 
tution the greatest moral energy, it is necessary 
that there should be a sufficient number of teachers 
able and willing to discharge their duty in the best 
manner, and that all who are the proper subjects 
for sabbath school instruction should be brought 
within its influence. You will easily see how revi- 
vals contribute to the accomplishment of both these 
ends. They multiply the number of adequate 
teachers, by bringing many persons of intelligence 
and discretion to a practical knowledge of the gos- 
pel; and they not only enlist them in the enterprise^, 



LECTURE IX. 275 

but impart to them a tender concern for the salvation 
of their pupils ; and lead them to regard this rather 
than the bare communication of scriptural know- 
ledge, the ultimate end of their efforts. They serve 
also greatly to increase the number of those who 
are brought within the reach of the benefits of this 
heaven-born institution. Let sabbath school teach- 
ers become deeply imbued with that spirit which a 
revival is fitted to impart to Christians, — a spirit of 
love to the Saviour and love to the souls whom he 
died to redeem, and it will carry them out to the 
hovels of wretchedness, and lead them to gather into 
this sacred enclosure as many as they can : and let 
parents feel the influence of a revival, either in re- 
claiming them from a course of backsliding, or in 
bringing them for the first time to an acceptance of 
the Saviour, and they too will stand ready to co- 
operate in this noble enterprise by encouraging not 
only their own children, but all with whom they 
have influence, to be found regularly in the sabbath 
school. It were easy to point to many instances 
of this institution being first established in conse- 
quence of a revival, and that too where no effort of 
this kind could have been made at any preceding 
period with the least prospect of success ; and to 
many more instances in which a revival has raised 
a sabbath school from a state of extreme depression 
to that of great prosperity. Its numbers have been 
greatly increased ; its teachers have been rendered 
more efficient and faithful; the church have come 
to regard it with renewed interest; and even the 



276 LECTURE IX. 

world have looked upon it with favor, and extended 
to it a cordial and cheering patronage. 

I must not omit to say in this connection, that 
the sabbath school furnishes a most interesting field 
for the direct action of a revival. I will say no- 
thing here of the peculiar advantages which this in- 
stitution furnishes for carrying forward a work of 
divine grace, having adverted to that in a preceding 
discourse ; but I refer to the fact, that the pupils in 
the sabbath school are generally in the morning of 
life, and that a revival in numbering them as its sub- 
jects, secures in every instance the influence of 
nearly a whole life to the cause of truth and piety. 
We are accustomed to feel, and very properly, that 
there is special reason for thanksgiving to God, 
when the man who has nearly worn out his life in 
sin, is arrested in his guilty career just as he is on 
the borders of the tomb ; but the peculiar interest 
which we take in such a conversion arises not from 
any expectation we can have of very extensive sub- 
sequent usefulness, but from the fact that it occurs 
at so late a period, as to furnish a signal instance 
of sovereign mercy, and to be in a peculiar sense 
as life from the dead. But when an individual 
comes into the kingdom, bringing with him the full 
freshness and vigor of youth, there is occasion for 
joy not merely because, from an heir of hell he has 
become an heir of heaven, but because there is rea- 
son to hope that he may be long useful in the 
church, and do much for the advancement of the 
cause of Christ. And when the dews of divine 



LECTURE IX. 277 

grace descend copiously upon a sabbath school, 
there is an amount of influence secured in favor of 
the interests of the church, which outruns calcula- 
tion. There are many youth saved, it may be, from 
exerting an influence unfriendly to the Redeemer's 
cause — possibly from being its open enemies ; and 
they enter at once on a course of vigorous ef- 
fort for its advancement ; and some of them may 
be destined to high places of trust, and their influ- 
ence, whether it be greater or less, whether it be 
exerted for a longer or shorter period, is brought 
as an humble offering to their Saviour and Lord. 
It is a delightful thought that, while the sabbath 
school is an important auxiliary to the cause of re- 
vivals, revivals in turn do much to direct and in- 
crease the influence of the sabbath school ; render- 
ing it a still more efficient helper to all the great 
and holy interests of the church. 

There is yet another way in which revivals in- 
crease the moral energies of the church — I mean hy 
cherishing a spirit of prayer for the success of the gos- 
pel. The Christian who has the true spirit of a re- 
vival, cannot limit his prayers any more than his ef- 
forts, to the salvation of those who are immediately 
around him. As he wakes to a more impressive 
sense of the value of the soul, and to the fact that 
the gospel offers the only effectual remedy for its 
moral disorders, he feels a stronger desire that that 
remedy may every where be known and applied, 
and this desire carries him often to the throne of 
the heavenly grace. And no doubt the prayers of 



278 LECTURE IX. 

Christians for the general diffusion of the gospel, 
which are drawn forth by revivals, have much to do 
instrumentally in setting in motion and keeping in 
motion the great moral machinery of the age ; as 
well as in securing the blessed effects which we see 
produced by it. And as it is now, so we have rea- 
son to beheve it will be in all coming years — the 
prayers of the church which her revivals will se- 
cure, will have much, very much to do, in carrying 
forward the triumph of the gospel, until the church 
shall be able to recognise the whole world as her 
habitation, and to record that the work that was 
given her to do has been accomplished. 

Who then but will acknowledge, in review of this 
article, that revivals have already, both by a direct 
and indirect influence, accomplished wonders to- 
ward the renovation of the world? And what 
Christian's heart will not bound with joy in the 
prospect of what is yet to be done through the 
same instrumentality ? Let your imagination anti- 
cipate a period, (how near or how remote I will 
not venture to say,) in which the wilderness, in- 
stead of presenting here and there a spot of moral 
verdure, shall every where be as the garden of the 
Lord ; in which Paganism, and Mahomedism, and 
every other false religion, shall have fled from the 
world ; in which every hill and valley shall echo to 
the Redeemer's praises, and the bright light of mil- 
lenial glory spread itself over the whole earth ; — 
let that period come, and let the question be asked, 
whether on earth or in heaven, by what means this 



LECTURE IX. 279 

glorious triumph has been secured, and it requires 
no spirit of prophecy to predict that the answer 
must be, that it has been, in a great degree, by re- 
vivals of religion. Such then is the grand result 
of revivals as it respects the present world — 

11. And what is it, as it respects the world of 
glory ? 

It is a vast accession to the felicity of that world. 
For, 

1. Revivals minister directly to the joy of the hea- 
venly inhabitants. 

The angels are by no means indifferent spectators 
of these scenes. Our Saviour himself hath declared 
that " there is joy among the angels over one sinner 
that repenteth." Much more then must they re- 
joice, when multitudes repent and believe, and have 
their destiny for eternity reversed. These exalted 
beings are represented as eagerly penetrating into 
the mysteries of redemption ; as employing their 
noble faculties to the utmost to become acquainted 
with this wonderful work ; because, more than any 
other, it brings out to view the perfections of Jeho- 
vah. But it is in a revival especially, that this work 
as it respects individuals, and even the whole church, 
advances rapidly towards its consummation. Here 
the provision which has been made for sinners is 
appropriated ; the remedy is applied and proved to 
be efficacious. The wisdom, the power, the grace, 
the faithfulness of God, shine forth amidst every 
such scene, with a distinctness and an effulgence, 
which angels cannot contemplate without burning 



280 LECTURE IX. 

with a loftier and more admiring regard for the di- 
vine character. Yes, we have no reason to doubt 
that when they cast an eye towards our world which 
is the theatre of redemption, and towards our revi- 
vals in which this redemption so wonderfully takes 
effect, they gain deeper, and brighter, and nobler 
views of God, than when they look directly at the 
glories of his throne. 

Another reason of their joy on these occasions 
is, that the benevolence of their nature leads them 
to delight in the happiness of men. Though they 
know nothing by experience of the evils from which 
the sinner is redeemed, yet they know much of the 
glory to which he is destined : they know that he 
is saved from the miseries of the second death ; — 
that he has a title to an incorruptible inheritance se- 
cured to him ; — that during his residence on earth, 
some beams of heavenly glory will be let down into 
his soul; — and that ere long he will be taken up to 
be their companion, and will advance through ever- 
lasting ages, from one degree of purity and bliss to 
another. Inasmuch as, during a revival, the change 
takes place in respect to many individuals, which 
secures to them an exemption from so much misery, 
and the possession of so much glory, how natural 
that the angels, in contemplating this change, should 
rejoice ; how reasonable that their native benevo- 
lence should lead them to turn an eye of transport 
toward the earth, while they bend with deeper re- 
verence before the throne, in view of these wonder- 
ful displays of divine mercy. 



LECTURE IX. 281 

But while revivals are a source of rich joy to the 
angels, we may suppose that they are so in a still 
higher degree to that part of the population of hea- 
ven who have washed their robes and made them 
white in the blood of the Lamb. It is with them, 
in common with angels, a reason for joy that, in 
these triumphs of divine grace, they gain the most 
glorious view of the divine character; and also that 
they contemplate in them a mighty addition to the 
amount of human happiness. But there are other 
circumstances to operate in their case, the influ- 
ence of which angels cannot be supposed to feel. 
They know by actual experience the misery of a 
life of sin, and the danger that is connected with it 
of being cast off* forever, and the fearful forebod- 
ings of eternal torment which have risen under the 
influence of a waking conscience ; and they know 
too on the other hand the sweet hope that accom- 
panies the sense of forgiveness, and the sustaining 
influences of piety in the hour of trial, and the 
cheering prospect that greets the eye of faith as it 
respects the future, and the aid which the soul ex- 
periences from the everlasting arm in the valley of 
death, and finally they know something of the ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory in which the 
sinner's redemption is consummated. They are 
able therefore to form a far more perfect estimate 
than the angels, of the real importance of a revival 
of religion, so far as it is connected with the happi- 
ness of its subjects ; because their experience ena- 
bles them to put the joy that is gained in more 

36 



282 LECTURE IX. 

striking contrast with the wo that is avoided. They 
look back to the hole of the pit from which they 
were themselves taken, and then consider their pre- 
sent condition as kings and priests unto God, and 
the gain of bliss and glory which is secured by one 
revival defies the utmost reach of their laboring 
conceptions. 

Moreover, it is reasonable to suppose that the joy 
which the redeemed feel in view of the triumphs of 
God's grace on earth, must be heightened in many 
cases by the relations which they have themselves 
sustained to those who are the subjects of a gracious 
renovation. Suppose the glorified parent looks 
down and sees the children whom he left walking 
in the broad road to death, turning into the path to 
life and setting their faces firmly towards heaven ; 
or suppose the wife beholds her husband, or the 
sister her brother, for whom she had offered a 
thousand prayers but had died without seeing them 
answered, now waking up to a concern for his sal- 
vation, and laying hold on the hope set before him 
in the gospel, and solemnly dedicating himself to 
the Lord; or suppose the faithful pastor to have 
gone down to his grave mourning over the obdura- 
cy of hearts which he could never reach, and to 
look down from Mount Zion above and see them 
pierced with conviction, and melted in penitence, 
and rejoicing in hope ; and I ask you whether you 
do not believe that in each of these cases, there 
would be a new and deeper thrill of joy in the 
breast of that glorified immortal ? Do you not be- 



LECTURE IX. 283 

lieve that he would strike his harp to a higher and 
nobler note of thanksgiving, that those whom he 
loved while he was on earth and whom he still loves 
though he is heaven, have not only been redeemed 
by the blood but renewed by the Spirit of Christ, 
and are training up to be his companions through 
ages of happiness that will know no end. 

I may say too, reverently, that Jehovah himself 
rejoices in a revival of religion ; for he beholds in 
it the most precious of his own works. In such an 
event each person in the adorable Godhead is emi- 
nently glorified by an exhibition of the various 
attributes of the divine character. The Father is 
glorified in the display of that love and wisdom in 
which the plan of redemption originated : the Son 
is glorified in the honor which hereby comes to his 
mediatorial work, and especially in the efficacy 
which is thus proved to belong to his atoning blood : 
the Holy Ghost is glorified in the effectual energy 
of his operation on the heart ; in changing stone 
into flesh — in new-creating the whole man. Here 
is power, wisdom, mercy, faithfulness, holiness, 
every attribute of God, brought out in a living — I 
had almost said, a palpable form. If Jehovah re- 
joices in his own glory, and if that glory is illustra- 
ted in the conversion of even a single soul, what 
shall be said of his rejoicing in view of a revival of 
religion — much more of all the revivals which will 
have taken place when the whole number of the 
ransomed of the Lord shall be gathered home. 



284 LECTURE IX. 

2. Revivals tend to the same grand result, by in- 
creasing the number of the heavenly inhabitants. 

Who can estimate the number that have already 
not only had their names written among the re- 
deemed, but have actually entered through the gate 
into the city, and taken up the anthems of heaven, 
who but for revivals of religion would have had no 
part nor lot in the matter ? Limit your view, if you 
will, to the result of a single year, and think what a 
mighty accession to the heavenly host is furnished 
by one year's revivals. And then with the promi- 
ses of God and the signs of the times in your eye, 
let your thoughts travel down the tract of coming 
years, and see how much the revivals of each suc- 
cessive year serve to increase the population of hea- 
ven. And finally anticipate the time when this 
earth shall no longer exist as a theatre for the tri- 
umphs of redemption, and the ransomed shall all be 
assembled on the plains of immortality ; and behold 
in that vast community a multitude which no man 
can number who date their change of character and 
destiny to revivals of religion. And then think of 
what has been done for these myriads of immortals. 
Fix upon the moment when the scene of dying was 
over, and the spirit was rushing forth to meet its 
God ; and estimate the importance of the change it 
has experienced, by all the horror which it hence- 
forth avoids, and all the bliss which it henceforth 
attains. All this countless multitude have escaped 
the pollution, and degradation, and wailing of the pit, 



LECTURE IX. 285 

and have risen to the purity, and glory, and ecstacy of 
heaven. The day of the resurrection and the judg- 
ment which, but for the renovation they have expe- 
rienced, would have awakened in them nothing but 
shame and agony, is a signal for exultation and tri- 
umph. They walk in the light of the Lamb. They 
know how to use angelic harps. They are kings 
and priests unto God. They go on from glory to 
glory, constantly approaching the perfection of the 
Highest, while immortality endures. Whose mind 
is not lost in contemplating the amount of felicity 
which revivals will secure to their subjects through 
all the ages of eternity ? 

Pause now for a moment on the eminence to 
which we are brought, and so far as you can, let 
your eye take in at a glance the results of revivals, 
as they respect both worlds. Under their influence 
see the cause of moral renovation advancing, until 
this earth every where brightens into a field of mil- 
lenial beauty. Behold also the inhabitants of hea- 
ven kindling with higher rapture in view of these 
wonderful works of God ! Not only those who 
have been subjects of revivals, but those who have 
not, not only the ransomed of the Lord but the 
principalities and powers in heavenly places, and 
even Jehovah who is over all blessed forever, re- 
joice, and will eternally rejoice, in these triumphs of 
redeeming grace. And this joy and glory is not 
only to be perpetual, but to be perpetually progres- 
sive. Say then whether such results will not justi- 



286 LECTURE IX. 

fy the church even now in beginning her eong of 
triumph? Which of the angels will think she is 
premature in her praises, if, when she looks abroad, 
and sees what God has wrought for her already in 
her revivals, she should begin to ascribe blessing, and 
honor, and glory, and power, unto him that sitteth 
upon the throne and unto the Lamb ? Be this then 
the song of the church as she travels on here in the 
wilderness, while she rejoices in the smiles, and 
leans upon the arm, and looks forth upon the gra- 
cious triumphs of her living Head. Be this her 
song on the morning of the millenial day. Let that 
bright jubilee be ushered in by the echoing and re- 
echoing of this hymn of praise all round the arch of 
heaven. Let the church on that glorious occasion 
count up if she can all the revivals which have con- 
tributed to her enlargement, and brought glory to 
her Redeemer, and say what so well becomes her as 
to take this language of thanksgiving upon her lips. 
Let this be her song when her enemies have all gone 
into confusion and taken up an eternal wailing ; 
when she is herself glorified and enthroned on the 
fields of immortality, and privileged to walk in the 
full vision of God ; when the complete triumph of 
redemption shall every where be acknowledged, and 
shall awaken joy or agony that is to endure forever. 
From the most distant point in eternity which an 
angel's mind can reach, let the church, when she 
remembers these scenes of mercy through which 
she is now passing, still shout forth her high prai- 



LECTURE IX. 287 

ses in the same noble song ; and let seraphim and 
cherubim, and the whole angelic choir of the third 
heavens, join to increase the melody ; — " Blessing, 
and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that 
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever 
and ever, Amen !" 



APPENDIX. 



LETTER I. 

From the REVEREND ARCHIBALD ALEXANDER, D. D. 

Professor of Theology in the Theological Seminary, Princeton, New-Jersey. 

Princeton J March 9, 1832. 
Reverend and dear sir, 

In compliance with your request, I send you a few thoughts on 
revivals. I am gratified to learn that you are about to publish 
some Lectures on this interesting subject. I hope they will be ex- 
tensively useful ; and if you should judge that any thing which I 
may write would subserve a valuable purpose, you are at liberty 
to make use of this letter as you may think best. 

1 . A revival or religious excitement may exist and be very pow- 
erful, and affect many minds, when the producing cause is not the 
Spirit of God ; and when the truth of God is not the means of 
the awakening.- This we must believe, unless we adopt the opin- 
ion that the Holy Spirit accompanies error by his operations as 
well as truth, which would be blasphemous. Religious excite- 
ments have been common among Pagans, Mohammedans, heretics 
and Papists. And in our own time there have been great religious 
excitements among those who reject the fundamental doctrines of 
the Gospel ; as for example, among the Christ-ianSy who are Uni- 
tarians, and the New-lights or Schismatics of the west, and the 
Campbellites, who deny the proper divinity of our Lord, and the 
scriptural doctrine of atonement. The whole religion of the Sha- 
kers also, consists in enthusiastic excitement. Hence it is evident, 
that revivals ought to be distinguished into such as are genuine and 
such as are spurious. And the distinction should depend on the 

A 



APPENDIX. 



doctrines inculcated, on the measures adopted, and the fruits pro- 
duced. ^'Beloved," says the apostle John, '* believe not every 
spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God." 

2. Again, a revival or religious excitement may take place when 
a few persons only are under the saving operations of the Holy 
Spirit : but when many are affected by sympathy, and by the ap- 
plication of extraordinary means of awakening the feelings. I have 
seen a powerful religious impression pervade a large congregation 
at once, so that very few remained unaffected ; and most expressed 
their feelings by the strongest signs ; and yet, as it afterwards ap- 
peared, very few of them became permanently serious. Besides, 
when the Spirit operates savingly on some, there is reason to think 
that his common operations are experienced by many. The minds 
of the people generally become more serious and tender ; and ma- 
ny are deeply convinced of the necessity of religion, and engage 
earnestly in prayer, and in attendance on other means of grace. 
Now while so many are affected, but few may be truly converted ; 
and no human wisdom is adequate to discern between those who 
are savingly wrought upon, and those who are only the subjects of 
the common operations of the Holy Spirit. The tree which is co- 
vered with blossoms often produces little fruit. The wind which 
agitates the whole forest, may tear up but few trees by the roots. 
Thus there may be great and promising appearances, and yet very 
little fruit. Temporary believers may use the same language, and 
exhibit to others precisely the same appearance as true converts. 
This consideration should be sufficient to prevent the practice late- 
ly introduced, of admitting persons to the communion of the church 
at the very meeting at which they were first awakened. There 
may be cases in which well instructed persons of known good cha- 
racter, may be received to the Lord's table, as soon as they pro- 
fess a hope of acceptance with God, but these should be consider- 
ed exceptions to the general rule. Often the impressions produced, 
at a public meeting, where strong excitements are applied to awa- 
ken the feelings, are as evanescent as the morning cloud or early 
dew. And many of those who become truly pious, entertain for a 
while, hopes, which they afterwards are convinced to be unfound- 
ed ; and to pronounce such persons converted at once, and hurry 
their admission to the Lord's table, would be the most effectual 



/ 



APPENDIX. 6 

method of preventing their saving conversion. There may be an 
error on the other side, of too long a delay, and of discouraging 
real believers from approaching the table of their Lord ; but the 
error is on the safest side. As to apostolical precedent, it is just 
as strong for a community of goods ; and after all, there is no un- 
doubted case of any convert being immediately received to the 
Lord's supper. They were baptized instantly on their profession, 
but this in our view is a different thing ; for we admit infants to 
baptism, but not to the other sacrament. And the fact is, that in 
every part of the world, the plan of placing young converts in the 
class of catechumens, to be instructed even prior to their baptism, 
was adopted. God often leaves his servants to find out by expe- 
rience what is most expedient, and does not teach every thing by 
inspiration ; as in the case of Moses in judging the people of Israel. 
And if experience has uttered her monitory voice clearly on any 
point, I think she has in regard to this ; and I have no doubt that 
future experience will fully corroborate the lessons of the past. 

3. A real work of the Spirit may be mingled with much enthu- 
siasm and disorder ; but its beauty will be marred, and its pro- 
gress retarded by every such spurious mixture. Thus also, indi- 
viduals who are the subjects of special grace, may for a while, 
be carried away with erroneous notions and extravagant feelings. 
We must not, therefore, condemn all as deluded souls, who ma- 
nifest some signs of enthusiasm. But under the same revival or 
general excitement, while some are renewed and ingrafted into 
Christ, others may be entirely under the influence of error, spiritu- 
al pride, and delusion. When the Son of man sows good seed in 
his field, will not the enemy be busy in sowing tares ? And 
doubtless it often happens, that by the rashness, fanaticism, and 
extravagance of a few persons, especially if they be leaders, an ill 
report may be brought up against a work, in which the Spirit of 
God has been powerfully operating. The opinion that it is dan- 
gerous to oppose fanaticism, lest we hinder the work of God, is 
most unfounded. We cannot more effectually promote genuine 
revivals, than by detecting and suppressing fanaticism ; which is 
their counterfeit, and injures their reputation among intelligent 
men, more than all other causes. 



4 APPENDIX. 

4. Often also, there may be much error mingled with the evan- 
gelical truth which is preached in times of revival ; and while God 
blesses his own truth to the conversion of men, the baleful effects 
of the error which accompanies it will be sure to be manifest. It 
may be compared to the case, where some poisonous ingredient is 
mingled with wholesome food. I might here, perhaps, refer to 
some sections of our own church, where the truth is not clearly in- 
culcated ; and it might be shown that there is danger of error on 
both extremes. But I choose rather to refer to those churches, 
which we all think to be erroneous in certain points. No denomi- 
nation among us has had more frequent and extensive revivals than 
the Methodists, and we have no doubt that multitudes have been 
truly converted under their ministry ; but the effect of their errors 
is manifest to an impartial observer. The same remark holds good 
respecting the Cumberland Presbyterians, who greatly resemble 
the Methodists in their doctrines, and modes of promoting and con- 
ducting revivals. And as an example from the opposite extreme, 
I would mention that portion of the Baptist church, which is tinc- 
tured with Antinomianism. They have revivals also, but their 
mode of treating the subjects is widely different from that of the 
sects last mentioned. 

5. But I come now to speak of genuine revivals, where the gos- 
pel is preached in its purity, and where the people have been well 
instructed in the doctrines of Christianity. In a revival, it makes 
the greatest difference in the world whether the people have been 
carefully taught by catechising, and where they are ignorant of the 
truths of the Bible. In some cases revivals are so remarkably pure, 
that nothing occurs with which any pious man can find fault. 
There is not only no wildness and extravagance, but very little 
strong commotion of the animal feelings. The word of God distils 
upon the mind like the gentle rain, and the Holy Spirit comes 
down like the dew, diffusing a blessed influence on all around. 
Such a revival affords the most beautiful sight ever seen upon 
earth. Its aspect gives us a lively idea of what will be the gene- 
ral state of things in the latter-day glory, and some faint im- 
age of the heavenly state. The impressions on the minds of the 
people in such a work are the exact counterpart of the truth ; just 
as the impression on the wax corresponds to the seal. In such re- 



APPENDIX. 5 

rivals there is great solemnity and silence. The convictions of 
sin are deep and humbling : the justice of God in the condemnation 
of the sinner is felt and acknowledged ; every other refuge but 
Christ is abandoned ; the heart at first is made to feel its own im- 
penetrable hardness ; but when least expected, it dissolves under a 
grateful sense of God's goodness, and Christ's love ; light breaks 
in upon the soul either by a gradual dawning, or by a sudden flash ; 
Christ is revealed through the gospel, and a firm and often a joy- 
ful confidence of salvation through Him is produced : a benevo- 
lent, forgiving, meek, humble and contrite spirit predominates — 
the love of God is shed abroad — and with some, joy unspeakable 
and full of glory, fills the soul. A spirit of devotion is enkindled. 
The word of God becomes exceedingly precious. Prayer is the 
exercise in which the soul seems to be in its proper element, be- 
cause by it, God is approached, and his presence felt, and beauty 
seen : and the new-born soul lives by breathing after the know- 
ledge of God, after communion with God, and after conformity to 
his will. Now also springs up in the soul an inextinguishable 
desire to promote the glory of God, and to bring all men to the 
knowledge of the truth, and by that means to the possession of 
eternal life. The sincere language of the heart is, '^ Lord what 
wouldst thou have me to do ?" That God may send upon his 
church many such revivals, is my daily prayer ; and many such 
have been experienced in our country, and I trust are still going 
forward in our churches. 

6. But it has often occurred to me — and I have heard the same 
sentiment from some of the most judicious and pious men that I 
have known — that there must be a state of the church preferable 
to these temporary excitements, which are too often followed by 
a deplorable state of declension, and disgraceful apathy and inacti- 
vity. Why not aim at having a continuous lively state of piety ; 
and an unceasing progress in the conversion of the impenitent, 
without these dreadful seasons of deadness and indifference ? Why 
may we not hope for such a state of increasing prosperity in the 
church, that revivals shall be no longer needed : or if you prefer 
the expression, when there shall be a perpetual revival? Richard 
Baxter's congregation seems for many years to have approximated 
to what is here supposed ; and perhaps that of John Brown of 



6 APPENDIX. 

Haddington, and Dr. Romaine of London. And in this country, I 
have known a very few congregations in which a lively state of 
piety was kept up from year to year. 

7. We cannot, however, limit the Holy One, nor prescribe 
modes of operation for the Spirit of God. His dispensations are in- 
scrutable, and it is our duty to submit to his wisdom and his will ; 
and to go on steadily in the performance of our own duty. If He, 
the Sovereign, chooses to water his church by occasional show- 
ers, rather than with the perpetual dew of his grace ; and this 
more at one period, and in one continent, than at other times and 
places, we should rejoice and be grateful for the rich effusions of 
his Spirit in any form and manner ; and should endeavor to avail 
ourselves of these precious seasons, for the conversion of sinners, 
and the edification of the body of Christ. In the natural world 
the cold and barren winter regularly succeeds the genial and grow- 
ing seasons of spring and summer ; and there may be an analogy 
to this vicissitude in the spiritual world. One thing we are taught, 
that believers stand in need of seasons of severe trial, that they 
may be purified, as the precious metals are purged from their 
dross in the heated furnace. Paul says, " For there must be he- 
resies among you, that they which are approved may be made 
manifest." 

8. As genuine revivals are favorable to truth and orthodoxy, so 
spurious excitements furnish one of the most effectual vehicles for 
error and heresy. The church is not always benefitted by what 
are termed revivals ; but sometimes the effects of such commo- 
tions are followed by a desolation which resembles the track of 
the tornado. I have never seen so great insensibility in any peo- 
ple as in those who had been the subjects of violent religious ex- 
citement ; and I have never seen any sinners so bold and reckless 
in their impiety as those who had once been loud professors, and 
foremost in the time of revival. If I had time, I might illustrate 
this remark by a reference to the great revival of the west, which 
commenced about the close of the year 1800 in the south part of 
Kentucky ; and by which the Presbyterian church in that region 
was for so many years broken, distracted, and prostrated — but I 
must forbear. When people are much excited, their caution and 
sober judgment are diminished j and when preachers are ardently 



APPENDIX. 7 

zealous in revivals, serious people do not suspect them of holding 
errors, or of entertaining the design of subverting the truth. It is 
also a fact that the teachers of false doctrine, do sometimes art- 
fully associate their errors with revivals, and by continually in- 
sinuating or openly declaring, that revivals only take place in con- 
nexion with their new theology, they succeed in pursuading those 
who have more zeal than knowledge, that all who oppose their 
errors, are the enemies of revivals. This artifice has often been 
played off with much effect ; and they have sometimes gone so far 
as to deny the genuineness of great revivals which occurred under 
the ministry of those holding opinions different from their own ; or 
who neglected to bring into operation all the newly invented appa- 
ratus of revivals. 

You may, perhaps, expect me to say something respecting what 
are called new measures ; but as I am out of the way of witnessing 
the actual operation of these means, I will not venture on a discus- 
sion which is both delicate and difficult, farther than to mention 
some general results, which from a retrospect of many facts, I 
have adopted, in regard to revivals of religion. On each of these 
I might largely expatiate, but my prescribed limits forbid it. 

All means and measures which produce a high degree of excite- 
ment, or a great commotion of the passions, should be avoided y 
because religion does not consist in these violent emotions, nor is 
it promoted by them ; and when they subside, a wretched state of 
deadness is sure to succeed. 

The subjects of religious impressions ought not to be brought 
much into pubUc notice. It ought not to be forgotten, that the 
heart is deceitful above all things, and that strong excitement does 
not prevent the risings of pride and vain glory. Many become 
h3rpocrites when they find themselves the objects of much atten- 
tion, and affect feelings which are not real ; and where there is 
humility and sincerity, such measures turn away the attention from 
the distinct contemplation of those subjects which ought to occupy 
the mind. 

On this account, I prefer having the anxious addressed and in- 
structed as they sit undistinguished in their seats, rather than cal- 
ling them out to particular pews, denominated anxious seats : and 
if the pastor can visit the awakened at their houses, it would be 



8 APPENDIX. 

better than to appoint meetings expressly for them. But as this 
cannot be done, when the number is great, these meetings may 
be necessary; but instead of attempting to converse with each 
individual, let the preacher address suitable instruction and advice 
to all at once ; and if any are in any great trouble and difficulty, 
let them come to the minister's house, or send for him to visit 
them. 

All measures which have a tendency to diminish the solemnity 
of divine worship, or to lessen our reverence for God and divine 
things, are evidently wrong ; and this is uniformly the effect of 
excessive excitement. Fanaticism often blazes with a glaring 
flame, and agitates assemblies as with a hurricane or earthquake ; 
but God is not in the fire, or the wind, or the earthquake. His 
presence is more commonly with the still small voice. There 
is no sounder characteristic of genuine devotion, than reverence. 
When this is banished, the fire may burn fiercely, but it is un- 
hallowed fire. Fanaticism, however much it may assume the 
garb and language of piety, is its opposite : for while the latter is 
mild, and sweet, and disinterested, and respectful, and affectionate, 
the former is proud, arrogant, censorious, selfish, carnal, and when 
opposed, malignant. 

The premature and injudicious publication of revivals, is now a 
great evil. There is in these accounts often a cant which greatly 
disgusts sensible men ; and there is an exaggeration which con- 
founds those who know the facts ; and it cannot but injure the 
people concerning whom the narrative treats. But I must desist. 
I am respectfully and affectionately 
Yours, 

A. ALEXANDER. 

Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER II. 

From the REVEREND FRANCIS WAYLAND, D. D. 

President of Brown University, Providence, Rhode-Island. 

Providence, March 7, 1832- 
Reverend and dear sir, 

You have requested me to give you some account of the revi- 
vals with w^hich I have been acquainted, and specially of those 
which have occurred in the denomination to which I belong. So 
large a portion of my life has been devoted to the business of in- 
struction, and having been permitted to witness but one general 
revival in a literary institution, I regret to say, that I am far less 
able to comply with your request, than many others of my breth- 
ren. I have, however, frequently visited congregations and places 
during seasons of revival, and have been in habits of intimacy with 
many of my brethren who have enjoyed such seasons, and have 
been thus, in various instances, acquainted with the whole pro- 
gress of the work. I merely mention these circumstances to shew 
you just how far the subsequent opinions are worthy of credit. 
Having done so, I will proceed, and offer such remarks as my 
limited observation and experience have suggested on the subject. 

I. I believe in the existence of revivals of religion, as much 
as I believe in any other fact, either physical or moral. By re- 
vivals of religion I mean special seasons in which the minds of 
men, within a certain district, or in a certain congregation, are 
more than usually susceptible of impression from the exhibition of 
moral truth. The effects of this special influence are manifest on 
ministers and hearers, both converted and unconverted. DEnisters 
are more than usually desirous of the conversion of men. They 
possess, habitually, an unusual power of presenting the simple 
truths of the gospel directly to the consciences of their hearers, 
and feel a peculiar consciousness of their own weakness and in- 
sufficiency, and at the same time a perfect reliance upon the effica- 
cy of the gospel, through the agency of the Spirit, to convert men. 
Every minister of the gospel has, I presume, enjoyed this feeling 
occasionally in his addresses to his fellow men, and every one has, 

B 



10 APPENDIX. 

I fear, felt that to possess it habitually is one of his most difficult at- 
tainments. Christians, during periods of revival, are characterized 
by an unusual spirit of penitence, of confession of sin, and of prayer, 
by a desire for more holiness, and specially by a tender concern for 
the salvation of souls. Unconverted persons are more desirous to 
hear the gospel, and particularly the plainest and simplest exhi- 
bitions of it ; they readily listen to conversation on the subject, 
and seem to expect it. Truths vrhich they have frequently heard 
with total unconcern they now hear with solemn and fixed atten- 
tion ; and in many cases, for days together, scarcely a sermon will 
be preached, or an exhortation offered, which is not made effectual 
to the conviction or conversion of one or more souls. 

Seasons of this sort commence in various ways. Sometimes a 
whole congregation is simultaneously impressed with the import- 
ance of religion. At other times a single striking conversion 
spreads its effect gradually over the whole. Sometimes the un- 
converted are awakened while the church yet slumbers. But 
more frequently Christians become convinced of their lukewarm- 
ness, and return to God by repentance, and through them the Holy 
Spirit is shed abroad upon the unconverted. That such seasons as 
these have been and still are witnessed, in almost every part of 
our country, can no more be doubted than the shining of the sun at 
noon-day. 

II. I next inquire what means have been most successfully used 
for the obtaining of this blessing. 

1 . On the part of the church, putting away all known sin. The 
enforcement of strict discipline, the universal engagement in be- 
half of temperance, the renewal of covenant engagements with 
God, more universal separation from the world, have all been fre- 
quently followed by seasons of revival. 

2. Setting apart seasons of fasting, and prayer, and humiliation, 
both individually and collectively, has very commonly been at- 
tended with a blessing. Those seasons which have been followed 
by most powerful revivals, have been marked by unusual confes- 
sion of sin, deep humility, earnest longing for the salvation of oth- 
ers, specially of parents for children, and of relatives for relatives. 
In innumerable cases, such prayers have been in a remarkable 
manner answered. 



APPENDIX. 11 

3. The more frequent and more faithful preaching of the gos- 
pel, has been generally followed by increase of religious attention 
in a congregation. Ordinarily, ministers in New-England have 
formerly preached twice on the sabbath day, and once on an even- 
ing of the week. Of late, however, the number of services has 
much increased. Most churches have three services on the sab- 
bath, when they can be procured, and meetings for religious im- 
provement frequently during the week. These meetings have 
been of various kinds. Sometimes the families in a neighborhood 
have been invited to spend an hour in religious services. At other 
times, particular classes of society have met separately for this pur- 
pose. For instance, parents, fathers, mothers, young men, young 
men in business, persons in middle age, have met and have been 
addressed in relation to their own particular case. Meetings for con- 
ference, or for exhortation and prayer, by lay brethren, have been 
very common, and have been very useful. Perhaps few means have, 
however, been attended with more invariably good effect, than the 
establishment of bible classes. These, I need not say, are associa- 
tions for the purpose of studying the sacred scriptures, conducted 
by a minister, or some competent person. I perhaps should not 
err in saying that revivals have more commonly commenced in 
bible classes than any where else. Within a few years also, pro- 
tracted meetings, or meetings for the purpose of continuing reli- 
gious services for three or four days in succession, have been at- 
tended with good success. Such meetings have rarely been held 
without beijig followed by hopeful conversions. Like any other 
special means of religious improvement, however, they need to be 
carefully guarded to prevent their falling into abuse . I have no doubt 
that experience will suggest such rules concerning the best mode 
of conducting them, as will enable Christians to derive the benefit 
which they confer, without suffering the evil which in some cases, 
it has been said, they have produced. That they have, in most 
instances with which I have been personally acquainted, been at- 
tended with a decided preponderance of good effect, so far as their 
results have been at present developed, I have no reason to doubt. 

The doctrines which have been most successfully exhibited in 
the promotion of revivals of religion, I think have been those 
which are peculiar to the gospel of Christ. Of these I believe the 



13 APPENDIX. 

following to be some of the most important — The entire want of 
holiness in all men by nature ; the justice of God in the everlast- 
ing condemnation of sinners ; the exceeding sinfulness of sin ; the 
total inability of man, by his own works, to reconcile himself to 
God ; the sufficiency, freedom and fulness of the atonement ; the 
duty of immediate repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ ; the inex- 
cusableness of delay ; the exhibition of the refuges of lies under 
which sinners hide themselves ; the sovereignty of God in the sal- 
vation of sinners ; the clear exhibition of the truth that he is under 
no manner of obligation to save them ; and the necessity of the 
agency of the Spirit of God to the conversion of any individual of 
the human race. 

III. The objects that should be aimed at in conducting a revi- 
val of religion, are few and simple. Some of them are, I think, 
the following : 

1. To cultivate the deepest piety in Christians. Hence they 
need to be exhorted frequently to self examination, secret prayer, 
self denial, and the cultivation of the special graces of the Spirit. 
At such times the temptation is strong to exhibit our religion be- 
fore the world. When this becomes the case, it soon languishes, 
and the power of a revival passes away. 

2. To improve the season as faithfully as possible to the con- 
version of sinners. This will be accomplished, 1. By rendering 
all the preaching as plain, scriptural, faithful and affectionate as 
God shall enable us. 2. By extending the means and increasing 
the amount of religious instruction. I see no reason why judicious 
laymen, provided they are experienced Christians, should not, un- 
der the general direction of the pastor, hold neighborhood meetings 
in various parts of a congregation. In this manner multitudes in 
every place, and especially in large towns, would be brought with- 
in the hearing of the gospel, who never enter a place of worship. 
3. By personal conversation, to as great an extent as possible, 
with those whose minds are at all impressed with the importance 
of religion, for the sake of removing difficulties, dispelling igno- 
rance, and leading them to the Savior. 

3. I suppose we should aim so to conduct our efforts during a 
revival of religion, as to prolong it as much as possible ; or what is 
still better, to render it the permanent religious state of a congrega- 



APPENDIX. 13 

tion. Several means will probably conduce to this. 1. We may 
so multiply religious meetings, as to weary men's minds and bo- 
dies by the continuous effort of attention. When this effect is pro- 
duced, their capacity for feeling is exhausted. On the contrary, 
by keeping within the limit designated by the laws of the human 
constitution, men's attention may be directed to the subject for 
any period whatever. 2. By creating no collision between reli- 
gious and other duties. If other duties are neglected for a season, 
the conviction of this neglect will soon form an excuse for a sub- 
sequent neglect of the duties of religion. 3. By avoiding the mere 
excitation of the passions, and striving simply to arouse and quick- 
en the conscience. Duty is, in its nature, fixed, permanent, sta- 
ble ; passion noisy, variable and uncertain. It is from want of 
this distinction that the results of many revivals have so greatly 
disappointed the hopes of the church. 

IV. There are some things which experience has taught us the 
importance of guarding against , in revivals of religion. Such are 
the following : 

1. Reliance on means, instead of reliance upon the Spirit of 
God. Seeing particular, and sometimes unusual means attended 
by a blessing, both ministers and people are prone to indulge the 
feeling that the efficacy resides in the means. They see particu- 
lar exhibitions of truth, protracted meetings, &c., followed bycon- 
versions, and they are too likely to feel as though there were some 
combination of means by which men may certainly be converted. 
Thus reliance on the Spirit of God is forgotten ; a spirit of self- 
confidence succeeds to a spirit of prayer, and God leaves the work 
in the hands of men. I need not say that it immediately ceases. 

2. A tendency to exaggeration is specially to be avoided. Men 
who desire to convince others, are always liable to use stronger 
language than the cool consideration of the case will warrant. It 
is so here. I do not mean to assert that the truth is represented 
too strongly. This cannot be. But a stress is frequently laid 
upon trivial circumstances, for the sake of immediate effect ; plain 
truths are often represented in so novel a light, or surrounded 
with so unusual imagery, that they have the effect upon a plain 
congregation, of false doctrine. We can never improve upon the 
sayings of Christ, nor present the doctrines of the gospel in a dress 



\ 



14 APPENDIX. 

better adapted to the human mind than he has done. As an illus- 
tration of the nature of this tendency to exaggeration, I would re- 
mark that I have known ministers urge persons to wait, after the 
congregation was dismissed, for the purpose of being prayed for, 
in such terms as would have led us to believe that their salvation 
absolutely turned upon this very point. Now I will not say that 
a person's salvation may not turn upon such a point as this, but I 
ask, is this the general rule ? Does the Bible authorise us to state 
it thus to a congregation ? 

3. A tendency to spiritual pride needs frequently to be correct- 
ed. Young converts are often put forward too rapidly, and 
induced to address congregations. These exhortations are some- 
times attended with good effects, and are, by the injudicious, ap- 
plauded. Hence they are prone to vanity, self-exaltation and cen- 
soriousness. The same effect is produced in Christians who are 
trusting to the means of grace, instead of relying on the Spirit of 
God. These indications need to be repressed by faithfulness and 
independence on the part of the ministry. In opposition to all this, 
I know it may be said, that a revival is a season of harvest, and 
we must labor differently from our usual manner. I answer, 
granted. But I ask, are we to work harder in a season of harvest 
than in a season of seed time } Should we not always work for 
God with our whole mighty and should we, or others, work, or can 
we work, beyond that might 1 Should a man work so, on the first 
day of his harvest, that he and all his fellow laborers would be 
disenabled from labor during the remainder of the season } And, se- 
condly. Whether it be seed time or harvest, God expects us to la- 
bor according to the laws, to which he has subjected this and eve- 
ry other labor. What should we think of a farmer who went to 
work upon his wheat field, cutting down and trampling under foot 
the rich blessings of autumn, and alleging as his reason, that it 
was harvest time^ and he must work hard, for it would soon be 
over } If it will soon be over, the reason is the stronger why we 
should lay out our labor to the greatest effect. And our labor will 
be laid out to the greatest effect, by conducting it according to the 
laws which God has enacted. 

These, my dear sir, are a few of the reflections which have oc- 
curred to me in attempting to comply with your request. I have 



APPENDIX. 15 

been obliged to study brevity, and fear that, In many cases, I may 
not have made myself perfectly understood. I have been obliged 
to write in haste, and in imperfect health. Should any thing have 
been written which can be of the least use to any of my brethren, 
I shall have cause for thankfulness. That this may be the result, 
is the sincere desire of, 

Dear sir. 

Yours truly, 

F. WAYLAND. 
The Rev. Dr. Sprague, Albany. 



LETTER III. 

From the REVEREND DANIEL DANA, D. D. 

Newburyport, Massachusetts. 

JVewburyport, March 22, 1832. 
Reverend and dear sir, 

I rejoice that you have been led to preach at large on the sub- 
ject of " Revivals ;" and still more, that the instruction you have 
given your people, is likely, through the press, to become the com- 
mon property of the religious public. 

The unparalleled mercy with which God has visited, and is still 
visiting, his American churches, excites our increasing wonder. It 
should pour a tide of holy gratitude and joy into every heart. 

Still we have reason to ^* rejoice with trembling." Spiritual 
prosperity, not less perhaps than temporal, has its pecuhar dangers. 
Should those revivals which seem to be over-spreading our land, 
lose their heavenly character ; should they degenerate into mere 
animal, or enthusiastic, or artificial excitements ; they would cease 
to be blessings. Their progress would be marked with desolation 
and spiritual death. To preserve them, then, in all their genu- 
ine, unsullied purity, should be the first object. This, I know, is 
your favorite object ; and in its pursuit, you have the concurring 
wishes and prayers of every enlightened friend of God and man in 
the community. 

On this most interesting point, you have been pleased to request 
some thoughts firom me. And though I have little sanguine hope 
of meeting your expectations, yet as your request has the force of 
a command, I will offer a few desultory hints. 

If all genuine religion is based on truth, it follows that every 
departure from truth, and every admixture of error, in religious 
instruction, tends to undermine the foundations of piety. Nor 
can it be denied that even the concealment of truth has a similar 
general tendency. These remarks are of universal application. 
But to no subject do they apply so forcibly, as to our protracted 
meetings. To these scenes multitudes resort to learn more of re- 
ligion than they ever knew before. Numbers bring with them an 



APPENDIX. 17 

unwonted seriousness and candor. Others are softened on the 
spot ; and for the first time, begin to hear without prejudice. All 
are liable to receive impressions which will attend them through 
life, and accompany them to the eternal world. From the bare 
statement, this is the time which pre-eminently demands a plain, 
energetic, undisguised exposition of scripture doctrines. This is 
the time to pour truth in all its effulgence, and in all its fulness, 
on the mind. Shall we refuse to these immortal listeners, the gos- 
pel; the pure gospel; the whole gospel? This, we assuredly 
know, is just what they need ; and is all they need. Other things 
may amuse the fancy ; but this will save the soul. Other things 
may be more palatable ; but they may be poisonous too. Shall 
we, in inculcating religion, suppress any thing, either of its humb- 
ling doctrines, or its arduous duties, or its costly sacrifices } Shall 
we for a moment suspect that any part of our Master's message 
will be improved by any curtailment, or addition, or modification 
of our own .'* 

Does not a disposition prevail, to depart from the simplicity of 
gospel truth ; to fritter away its substance ; to soften down its 
harsher lineaments ; and to give it a form and features less offensive 
to the fastidious taste of the age ? Do not many who value them- 
selves on their orthodoxy, coalesce with lalitudinarians in their 
grand error ; and make reason the final umpire in matters of reli- 
gion ^ Is not a false philosophy exercising a most baneful influ- 
ence on Christian doctrines — repeating, in fact, the old experiment 
of Procrustes, and stretching or mutilating them into an agreement 
with its own model ? That between genuine philosophy, and the 
doctrines of the gospel, there can be no real discrepancy, is per- 
fectly obvious. Both emanate from the same eternal fountain of 
truth. But the philosophy of the mind, it is truly observed, is yet 
in its infancy. And no attempt to make an accurate and rigid ap- 
plication of its principles to the doctrines of the gospel, has hither- 
to succeeded. This, however, proves not that the attempt is ut- 
terly impracticable. Some master spirit may yet arise, deeply 
studied in the human mind, and deeply studied in the Bible ; pow- 
erful enough to seize the best truths of philosophy, and to grapple 
with its errors ; and humble enough to learn every thing anew at 
the feet of Jesus. Such a spirit might do much to pour light on 
c 



18 APPENDIX. 

the long-gathering darkness of Christian metaphysics, and to re^ 
duce the chaos to order. To siich a teacher we might listen with 
safety, and with delight. 

While the enterprising spirit of the age is accomplishing such 
wonders in art, and even in science, numbers seem to anticipate 
corresponding improvements in theology. But with little reason. 
If any essential truths are to break out from the Bible in the nine- 
teenth century of Christianity, the Bible has been given in vairr. 
It has failed to accomplish its grand object. We hope, indeed, 
that many of its great doctrines will be better understood. In 
other words, we hope that the darkness with which a false learning 
and a false philosophy have shrouded them, will be dispelled, and 
they will be seen by their own light. Improvements in religious 
knowledge come in a dijOferent way from most other improvements. 
They are the fruit, not df ambitious toil, or of bold speculation ; 
but of humility^ of self-distrust, of calm reflection, of ceaseless in- 
quiry at the Heavenly Oracle, and of fervent prayer to the Father 
of lights. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of this wisdom. 
To approach the Bible, or any of its sacred truths, without reve- 
rence, without a holy, trembling caution, is to be disqualified, not 
only to teachj but even to learn. Here, men are ordinarily bold and 
self-confident in proportion to their ignorance. 

Where men of judgment creep, and feel their way. 
The positive pronounce without dismay. 

How disastrous is it for religion, when men of this stamp become 
the oracles of the day ; teaching what they have not learned ; con- 
demning what they have never understood; confident, where a 
little reflection would teach them to doubt; and breathing their 
own spirit into their admiring, deluded followers. 

A special cause of doctrinal error and corruption is found in that 
exciteinent which frequently attends revivals of religion ; and par- 
ticularly, lengthened religious meetings. In these cases, the ima- 
ginations and feelings of men being powerfully roused, the plain 
truths of the gospel pall upon their ears, and they demand some- 
thing more novel, more startling, more overwhelming. The con- 
tagion reaches the preacher. His own imagination and feelings 
are kindled ; and he longs to utter something which shall irresisti- 



APPENDIX. 19 

hly seize every heart. In the ardor of the moment, and perhaps 
with the best intentions, he utters a sentiment which his cool judg- 
ment would have condemned, and which the Bible condemns. 
But it enkindles thought and feeling. It thrills a whole assembly. 
Thus sanctioned, it flies forth on every wind ; and it remains to 
trouble the church for ages. 

If doctrinal errors are to be deprecated, as hostile to the purity 
of revivals, errors in experimental and practical religion are still 
more immediately dangerous and fatal. 

In the extraordinary meetings to which we have alluded, the 
preaching generally assumes the hortatory character. Undoubted- 
ly it ought to embrace powerful and affecting appeals to the con- 
science, and the heart. But this is not enough. It should abound 
in instruction respecting the distinguishing nature and evidences of 
genuine piety. Such instruction, so far from being, as is some- 
times supposed, unsuited to the occasion, is eminently appropriate 
and needful. If men are to be urged to religion with unusual en- 
ergy, let them know what religion is. If the very circumstances 
under which they assemble, expose them to mistake mere natural 
excitement or sympathy for piety, let the mistake not be cherished, 
but counteracted. Religion should, indeed, be exhibited in all its 
beauty and loveliness ; in all its divine and attractive charms. 
But we may not conceal its spirituality, its difficulties, or its self- 
denials. We may not depress its high demands, nor narrow its 
broad requisitions. We cannot speak to sinners too emphatically 
of their obligation to immediate repentance ; of the guilt and dan- 
ger of delay ; nor of their encouragement to give themselves to re- 
ligion ; nor of the absolute certainty that if they truly seek, they 
shall obtain its blessings. Nor can we employ too much pains to 
wrest from them their ten thousand excuses for impenitence. Still, 
we may not suffer them to forget their deep depravity ; their in- 
sufficiency ; their dependence on sovereign mercy ; nor the neces- 
sity of divine influence to change their hearts. True ; these things 
are regarded by many, as over-statements of gospel doctrine ; points 
which the Christian preacher is called, not so much to expound 
and enforce, as to explain away. But the great majority of the 
Christian church have ever viewed them as simple Bible truths ; 
and they have considered it as most honorable to the Bible to re- 



20 APPENDIX. 

ceive them in their simplicity, and open their hearts to their influ- 
ence. Others, too, who cannot but confess that these are plain 
and prominent points of scripture, are much disquieted as to their 
tendency ; and think that, if inculcated at all, they should be incul- 
cated with much caution, and much qualification. But is it not 
safe to declare the gospel message } Is there any danger like that 
of concealing or distorting it ? If truth may be perverted to men's 
ruin, is not error necessarily destructive } If, from the very doc- 
trines which should alarm, and rouse to action, they will draw ar- 
gument for sloth, or despondence, or presumption, will not the er- 
ror be voluntary and criminal on their part, and their destruction 
entirely of their own procuring } 

Are there not certain characteristics of the age, which threaten, 
in a greater or less degree, the purity of religion "^ 

It is eminently an age of action. On every subject, in every 
department of science, and of life; the human mind seems roused 
to an unwonted energy ; an almost unparalleled activity. The re- 
ligious world has awoke from a long and most lamentable slumber. 
Not content with barren wishes and prayers for the conversion of 
the impenitent, and of the heathen world, it puts its faculties to 
the work. It vigorously employs the appropriate means. This 
is matter of the liveliest gratitude and joy. Yet even here, there 
arises danger. If, through multiplied active engagements, ministers 
or private Christians shall be drawn away from their closets ; from 
communion with their hearts, and their God ; their piety will lan- 
guish and decline. With new converts ; with those whose charac- 
ters and habits are in the forming state, the case is still more criti- 
cal. They too must prepare for action ; vigorous, benevolent, 
holy action. And this preparation must be made in the closet. 
It must be the fruit of retirement, of meditation, of self-converse, 
of prayer. Without these, they may have the form, the features, 
and apparently the activities, of living Christians ; but the inform- 
ing, animating spirit will be absent. Without these, they may do 
something to save the souls of others ; but too probably, they will 
lose their own. 

This is likewise an age of display. Almost every thing new 
pushes itself into notice, courts the public gaze, and claims the 
public admiration. But religion, genuine religion, is modest, un- 



APPENDIX. 21 

obtrusive and humble. It seeks not public applause. It is con- 
tent with the notice and approbation of God. These characteris- 
tics constitute not only its beauty, but in some measure, its very 
essence. A vain, ambitious, popularity-seeking Christian is almost 
as great a solecism as a profane, or prayerless Christian. Should 
this spirit once enter our churches, it will sadly mar their beauty, 
and consume the very vitals of their religion. Let us beware of 
it in all its forms, and all its approaches. Let us especially, in 
all the arrangements of our protracted meetings, and in all our 
treatment of inquirers, and young converts, avoid and discounte- 
nance, as much as possible, the pernicious spirit of display. 

In adverting to the causes by which religious revivals are cor- 
rupted, I intended to have noticed the evil of precipitate admissions 
of supposed converts into the church. But I have already pro- 
tracted my remarks beyond my intention ; and this topic, as well 
as some others, must be waived. 

In reviewing what I have written, I perceive that the spirit of 
animadversion has been somewhat freely indulged. Yet I humbly 
hope that nothing has been marked with disapprobation, which the 
great Head of the church approves. If any thing is to be found on 
earth, which has much of heaven in it, it is a genuine revival of 
religion. But in this imperfect state, nothing can pass through 
human hands entirely *insoiled. It is a delightful thought, that 
He who loved the church, and gave himself for it, will finally 
present it to himself, a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle. 
It is my prevailing hope and belief, that the great things which 
God has already done for his American Israel, are precursors of 
still greater things. May He cleanse our Zion ** by the spirit of 
judgment, and by the spirit of burning." And may He " purify 
the sons of Levi, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in 
righteousness." May our beloved land, and may the whole earth, 
soon behold the glory of the Lord, and rejoice in his salvation. 

Adieu, my dear Sir. Accept my sincerest wish, that all your 
efforts to do good, and especially the present, may be crowned with 
an abundant blessing. 

With much esteem and friendship, I am 

Your brother in the gospel, 

D. DANA. 
Rev. Doctor Sprague. 



LETTER IV. 

From the REVEREND SAMUEL MILLER, D. D. 

Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government in the Theological Seminary at 

Princeton, New-Jersay. 

Reverend and dear brother, 

The pious and devoted Mr. Baxter somewhere remarks — '^ The 
Word of God is divine ; but our mode of dispensing it is human : 
and there is scarcely any thing we have the handhng of, but we 
leave on it the prints of our fingers." The justness of this remark 
we shall probably all acknowledge. And although the contempla- 
tion of the fact which it expresses, ought by no means either to 
discourage the Christian, or lead him to depreciate the real impor- 
tance of human instrumentality in extending and building up the 
Church ; it ought to lead us all to " cease from man" as an ultimate 
guide in divine things ; to ^' search the Scriptures daily ;" to walk 
with a scrupulous care in their light ; and to pray fervently and 
unceasingly that both those who administer and those who receive 
the ordinances of God, may constantly go *' to the law and to the 
testimony" for guidance in every thing. 

As the remark in question applies to every department of sacred 
things, in which men act ; so it may be considered, perhaps, as 
applying particularly to Revivals of Religion. In those pre- 
cious seasons, so dear to every pious heart, and so much to be de- 
sired by every one who loves the prosperity of Zion ; — ^when the 
graces of Christians are revived ; when many who have been 
slumbering in sin are awakened for the first time to a sight of their 
guilt and danger ; when the awful realities of eternity begin to be 
revealed to the minds of multitudes who never saw them as reali- 
ties before ; when human sympathies and passions as well as gra- 
cious feelings, are called into exercise, and sometimes into very 
powerful and morbid exercise ; and when those who are yet " babes 
in Christ," and who, of course, have no experience, are ready to 
listen to every suggestion which may indicate some new method of 
" winning souls," and of extending the Redeemer's kingdom ; — 
can it be wondered, that, in such a season of deep interest, and 
powerful excitement — ^feehng should often predominate over judg- 



APFENUIX. 23 

ment ; and enthusiasm, fanaticism, and various forms of spurious 
emotion, mingle with genuine exercises ; and, in the view of su- 
perficial observers, throw a suspicious appearance over the whole 
work ? In many instances, there can be no doubt, that genuine 
eflfusions of the Holy Spirit, by means of which large additions 
have been made to the Church of Christ, have, in their progress, 
been tarnished by human management, and unhallowed mixtures ; 
and, in not a few cases, arrested by transactions and appearances, 
which pained the hearts of intelligent Christians ; disgusted and 
alienated serious inquirers ; grieved away the Spirit of God ; left 
the state of the population thus graciously visited, perhaps less fa- 
vourable than it was found ; and greatly strengthened the hands of 
the enemies of the revival cause. 

This is so far from being a rare occurrence, that it is presumed 
an extensive and strongly marked revival of religion has seldom 
occurred, in any age or country, and even under the ministry of 
the most prudent and pious pastor, in the course of which some 
things did not take place adapted to grieve the enlightened friends 
of the cause of Christ. Public services, perhaps have been, with 
the best intention, so inordinately multiplied as, in a measure, to de- 
feat their own object. Means have been resorted to, in the fulness 
of ardent feeling, which scriptural wisdom and experience could 
not justify. Irregularities and excesses have insensibly crept in, 
which, though meant for the best, and promising, at the time, to be 
useful, proved far otherwise in their influence. Expression has 
been given, in public and private to feelings, which, though sin- 
cere and unaffected in those in whom they were first witnessed, 
were by no means of a similar character in all subsequent imita- 
tors. A few, perhaps, who were deeply impressed with the im- 
portance of religion, and with the danger of the impenitently wicked, 
began, without permission, to give vent to their honest zeal in 
warm public addresses. Those whose zeal and knowledge were 
less, and whose vanity was greater, soon imitated their example ; 
until lay-preaching became prevalent, and extravagance and folly 
were the most prominent features in the scene. Meetings for 
prayer were protracted to an unseasonable hour. Judicious and 
sober-minded Christians were grieved to see plans adopted, and 
practices indulged, which, though intended for good, were by n<d 



24 AJPJPKJXJDIX. 

means adapted to promote it. Many who saw and lamented these 
evils were backward to oppose them, lest they should be thought 
unfriendly to what was really excellent and commendable in the 
passing scene. Thus revivals have lost some of their lustre with 
all ; have been altogether discredited in the eyes of many ; and 
have, perhaps, been succeeded by long seasons of prevailing care- 
lessness, and even of hardened opposition to the special work of 
the Holy Spirit. 

But not only are the seeds of human infirmity and corruption 
to which I have referred, quite sufficient to produce, and to explain 
the evils which have been mentioned : — not only are the honest 
mistakes, and the remaining imperfections of the best men apt to 
betray them, in seasons of excitement, into language and plans 
which will not stand the test of enlightened reflection ; but there 
can be no doubt that the great adversary of souls makes it his con- 
stant study, by working on the minds of hypocrites and fanatics, 
and by leading good men, as far as possible, into his snares, to 
counteract and to discredit revivals of religion. *' If we look 
back" — says the eminently wise and experienced President Ed- 
wards — " If we look back into the history of the Church of God 
in past ages, we may observe that it has been a common device of 
the devil, to overset a revival of religion, when he finds he can 
keep men quiet and secure no longer, then to drive them into ex- 
cesses and extravagances. He holds them back as long as he can ; 
but when he can do it no longer, then he will push them on, and, 
if possible, run them upon their heads. And it has been by this 
means chiefly, that he has been successful, in several instances, to 
overthrow most hopeful and promising beginnings : yea, the princi- 
pal means by which the devil was successful, by degrees, to over- 
set that grand religious revival of the world, that was in the pri- 
mitive ages of Christianity ; and, in a manner to overthrow the 
Christian Church through the earth, and to make way for, and 
bring on the grand anti-christian apostacy, that master-piece of all 
the devils work, was to improve the indiscreet zeal of Christians ; 
to drive them into those three extremes of enthusiasm, superstition^ 
and severity towards opposers, which should be enough for an ev- 
erlasting warning to the Christian Church. And though the devil 
will do his diligence to stir up the open enemies of religion ; yet 



APPENDIX. 25 

he knows what is for his interest so well, that in a time of revi- 
val of rehgion, his main strength shall be tried with the friends of 
it, and he will chiefly exert himself in his attempts upon them to 
mislead them. One truly zealous person, in the time of such an 
event, that seems to have a great hand in the affair, and draws the 
eyes of many upon him, may do more (through satan's being too 
subtil for him) to hinder the work, than an hundred great, and 
strong, and open opposers."* 

One would think, at first view, that a single series of mischiev- 
ous disorders, strongly marked ; exhibited in a day of great public 
interest ; and distinctly recorded, would be sufficient to instruct and 
warn the Church in all succeeding times. But, unhappily, this is 
by no means found to be the case. Human nature being the same 
in all ages, the tendencies, infirmities and temptations of men are 
the same. One generation forgets the experience of that which 
preceded it. Few read the record of that experience, and fewer 
still are qualified to profit by it. The consequence is, that every 
few years, the same occurrences take place. Good men are en- 
snared and led astray in the same manner. Hypocrites manifest 
the same arts and unhallowed ebullitions. Similar mistakes are 
made, and similar irregularities are indulged, without recollecting, 
or, perhaps, knowing, that they were ever witnessed before, and, 
of course, without being admonished by the painful instructions 
of former times. Thus it is that children profit so little by the ex- 
perience of their fathers. It were well, indeed, if the fathers them- 
selves always profited as they ought by their own. 

The truth of these remarks has been exemplified, in a greater or 
less degree, in almost every age of the Church, from the day of 
Pentecost, until the present hour. Even under the eyes of the in- 
spired Apostles themselves, some of the evils of which we have 
spoken occurred, and were formally reproved as disorderly and 
mischievous. For example, no one can read the fourteenth chap- 
ter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, without perceiving that 
the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit were greatly abused by 
some of the members of that Church, and the exercise of these 



*Somo Thoughts concerning the present Revival of Religion, &c. Part IV. p. 190. 
D 



26 APPENDIX. 

gifts connected witli much disorder. It is perfectly evident that 
there was a considerable excitement among the people : and it is 
quite as evident that this excitement was not conducted with deco- 
rum and wisdom. The following paraphrase of Dr. Doddridge^ on 
the twenty-sixth verse of that chapter, is decisive as to his view 
of the subject. " I might also urge, upon this head, the great 
disorder which is introduced into your assemblies by this os- 
tentatious manner of proceeding ; for, indeed, if you think se- 
riously, what a shocking thing it is, my brethren, that wheji 
you come together for the purposes of social worship, in which all' 
hearts should unite, each of you is desirous himself to officiate 
publicly, in such a manner as best suits his present inclination,, 
without any regard to decency and order ? Every one of you hath 
a psalm to read, hath a doctrine to inculcate, hath a tongue in 
which to preach or pray, hath a revelation of some mystery to 
produce, hath an interpretation, which perhaps he immediately be- 
gins, while the person from whom he is to interpret, hath but be- 
gun ta speak ; and thus five or six, if not more, may be speaking 
at the same time ; in consequence of which no one can be distinctly 
heard, and the assembly degenerates into a kind of tumultuous riot. 
I beseech you, my friends, to rectify this, and to proceed upon the 
general canon, which I would reconamend to you upon all such 
occasions, — let all things be done, not for ostentation, but for edi- 
fication, in such a manner as you do in your consciences beheve 
will be most like to do good to the souls of men, and to build up the 
Church of Christ." To this paraphrase, the pious author adds, in 
a note — " It seems probable that some of these Christians were so 
fiill of themselves, and so desirous of exercising their respective 
gifts,, that, without waiting for the permission and direction of him 
who presided ia the assembly, several began speaking, or singing in 
the sanfte minute, and some began while others were speakings 
The manner in which discourses were carried on in the schools of 
the philosophers, where several little »knots of disputants seem to 
have been engaged at the same time, and what happened in Jew- 
ish synagogues, after worship was completed, might possibly have 
given some occasion to an irregularity which to us seems so shock- 
ino;." So much for the case of the Corinthian Church. The 
diligent reader of the New Testament will see in the accounts 



APPENDIX. 27 

given of other churches, indications of similar disorders, evidently 
spoken of as offensive to infinite wisdom. 

Concerning the partial or more extensive revivals of religion 
vrhich took place, in different countries, from the Apostolic age to 
the Reformation, we know so little in detail, that we cannot under- 
take to speak particularly of the disorders with which they were 
attended. But that there were such disorders, in a number of in- 
stances, cannot be doubted by those who read ecclesiastical history 
with the smallest share of either attention or discernment. I have 
no doubt, that many of those serious people, who are represented 
by Mosheim and others, as having fallen into irregularities ; and 
who are set down by these historians as " heretics" or " schisma- 
tics ;" were really among the '* Witnesses of the Truth ;" who 
connected with their testimony, some wildness in opinion, or dis- 
order in practice, which tarnished their profession, and virtually 
threw their influence into the scale of the enemy. The fact is, 
we seldom read of the minds of men being roused and excited, 
even by a good Spirit, without some testimony that pride, vanity, 
enthusiasm and fanaticism, in various degrees and forms, mingled 
with the good work, and produced effects which grieved the 
hearts of intelligent and solid Christians. It seems to have been 
the lot of *' the sons of God," in all ages, that whenever they as- 
sembled in greater numbers, and with greater zeal than usual, to 
*' present ^themselves before the Lord," *' Satan came also among 
them." 

The glorious revival of religion which we are wont to designate 
by the emphatic title of the reformation, can never be too high- 
ly estimated, or too gratefully acknowledged by those who love 
the purity and prosperity of the Redeemer's kingdom. That won- 
derful impulse from the Spirit of God, which electrified western 
Christendom, and which, at once, convulsed and purified so large 
a portion of the church ; was made productive of blessings in which 
we yet rejoice, and which will be matter of fervent thankfulness to 
the end of time. But even the lustre of that scene was tarnished 
by various disorders, which deeply grieved intelligent and judi- 
cious Christians, and, in some places, for a time, greatly hindered 
the progress of the good cause. When I see Carolostadty the 
friend, and, for a time, the affectionate coadjutor of Luther ; a man 



28 APPENDIX. 

of respectable talents and leai^ning ; who had exposed the tyranny 
and superstition of the Pope with great effect ; and who has been 
pronounced to have deserved well of the Protestant cause : — when 
I see such a man acting the unwise and turbulent part which his- 
tory reports of him — I could almost sit down and weep over poor, 
frail human nature. When I see him entering the Churches of 
the Romanists, breaking in pieces their images, throwing down 
their altars, and trampling their crucifixes under his feet : — when 
I find him denouncing human learning, as useless, if not injurious 
to the student of the holy Scriptures ; going into the shops of the 
lowest mechanics, and consulting them about the meaning of diffi- 
cult passages of Scripture ; ostentatiously renouncing the title of 
" doctor," and all names of ecclesiastical distinction ; insisting that 
ministers ought not to study, but to support themselves by the labor 
of their own hands ; filling the minds of young men with his eccen- 
tric and mischievious opinions ; persuading the students of the Uni- 
versity of Wittemberg^ to abandon their studies, and even the boys, 
in the lower schools, to throw aside their books, and enter immedi- 
ately on the business of religious teaching ; — and when I find him, 
in addition to these irregularities, declaring that he had not the least 
regard for the authority of any human being, but must pursue his 
own course ; and that no man could be a real Christian who disap- 
proved of that course : — I say, when I find him acting thus, amidst 
the entreaties and the tears of far wiser and more pious men than 
himself; — I cannot help exclaiming — "Lord, what is man!" 
These proceedings, it is unnecessary to say, were matter of great 
grief to Luther, and all his judicious friends, and evidently injured 
the cause of the Reformation. But, in spite of all the remonstran- 
ces and entreaties which could be presented to Carolostadt^ he 
persevered in his unhappy course for several years. And although 
he afterwards came, in a great measure, to his senses, acknow- 
ledged his fault, and professed to mourn over it ; still the cause of 
truth had been dishonored, and incalculable mischief done, which 
it was impossible to recall. 

The revival of religion which took place in the former part of 
the eighteenth century, in this country, is generally considered, I 
believe, and with great justice, as the most extensive and power- 
ful that American Christians ever witnessed. The labors of the 



APPENDIX. 29 

Apostolic Whitejield, and his coadjutors, the Tennents, &c. and 
also of the venerable Stoddardy President Edwards ^ and others, 
in Nevj-England, were connected with triumphs of gospel truth, 
which the friends of vital piety love to remember, and which they 
can never call to mind without gratitude and praise to Him who 
has "the residue of the Spirit." Many thousands of souls, there 
is reason to believe, were brought into the kingdom of Christ, dur- 
ing that revival, and a new impulse and aspect given to the 
Church in the American colonies. 

Yet, here again, some of the managers in this heart-elevating 
scene, — to recur to the expressive language of Baxter, — " left 
upon it the prints of their fingers," and thus created unsightly 
spots in a " blaze of glory." He who will take the trouble to 
consult the fourth part of the venerable Edwards^ s treatise on that 
revival, as well as some other contemporaneous publications, will 
find evidence of this fact as painful as it is unquestionable. He 
will find, that, amidst the most gratifying evidence that good seed, 
and good fruits predominated, the enemy was permitted to "[sow 
tares," which sprung up with the wheat, and, in some cases, al- 
most " choked it." The disorders of lay-preaching well nigh 
brought the ministry, in many places, into contempt. The out- 
cries, the praying and exhorting hj females in public, grieved the 
hearts of judicious Christians. The language of harsh censure, 
and of uncharitable denunciation^ as " unconverted" persons, — as 
" blind leaders of the blind," — as " devout leaders to hell" — was 
directed towards some of the best ministers of Christ in the com- 
munity, because they disapproved of these irregularities. PubHc 
confessions of secret sins were warmly urged, and actually made, 
and crimes altogether unsuspected brought to light, to the disgrace 
of Christian character, and the destruction of domestic peace. 
Thus scenes which were no doubt intended to make a deep and 
salutary moral impression, were made the subjects of unhallowed 
speculation, and the themes of a thousand tongues. All these 
things were urged with the confidence of oracular wisdom ; and 
whoever ventured to lisp any thing like doubt or opposition, was 
publicly stigmatized as an enemy to revivals, and an opposer of 
vital piety. 



30 APPENDIX. 

Among those who took the lead in this fanatical and disorderly- 
conduct, one individual obtained such an unhappy eminence, that 
his case ought to be kept before the public mind as a salutary- 
warning. I need not tell you^ that I refer to the Rev. Mr. James 
Davenport^ great-grandson of the venerable and excellent John 
Davenport^ the first minister of New-Haven^ and at that time pas- 
tor of a church at Southhold, on Long-Island. Mr. Davenport 
was then a young man, and had been for some time esteemed a 
pious and faithful minister. Hearing of the signal effusions of the 
Holy Spirit with which God had been pleased to favor many parts 
of New- England, he, about the year 1741, made a visit to Con- 
necticut^ and shortly afterwards to J\Iassachusetts ; and every 
where preached abundantly, and entered with warmth into the 
spirit of the prevailing revivals. Soon, however, becoming ani- 
mated by a furious zeal, and imagining that he was called to take 
a special lead in the work, he began to set at nought all the rules 
of Christian prudence and order, and to give the most unrestrained 
liberty to his fanatical feelings. He raised his voice to the high- 
est pitch in public services, and accompanied his unnatural vehe- 
mence, and cantatory bawling, with the most violent agitations of 
body. He encouraged his hearers to give the most unrestrained 
vent both to their distress and joy, by violent outcries, in the 
midst of public assemblies. He pronounced those who were thus 
violently agitated, and who made these public outcries, to be un- 
doubtedly converted persons. He openly encouraged his new con- 
verts to speak in public, and brought forward many ignorant and 
unqualified persons, young and old, to address large assenabiies, in 
his own vehement and magisterial manner. He led his followers 
in procession through the streets, singing psalms and hymns. He 
claimed a kind of prescriptive right to sit in judgment on the cha- 
racter of Ministers of the Gospel. He went from place to place, 
undertaking to examine ministers, as to their spiritual state, and 
to decide with confidence whether they were converted or not ; 
and when his judgment was unfavorable, he would often, in his 
public prayers, denounce them as graceless persons, and call upon 
the people to pray for their conversion. Those who refused to be 
examined by him, he, of course, placed on the reprobated list. He 
made his public prayers the medium of harsh, and often indecent 



APPENDIX. 31 

attack on those ministers and others whom he felt disposed, on any 
account, to censure. He taught his followers to govern them- 
selves by impulses and impressions, rather than by the word of 
God ; and represented all public services in which there was not 
some visible agitation, or some audible outcry, as of no value. 
He warned the people against hearing unconverted Ministers, re- 
presenting it as a dreadful sin to do so ; and on more than one oc- 
casion publicly refused to receive the Sacramental symbols in par- 
ticular churches, when he had an opportunity of doing it, because 
he doubted the piety of the pastors. 

Mr. Davenporfs elder and more judicious brethren, who trem- 
bled for the interests of religion, and who were especially anxious 
that no dishonor might be cast on the revivals which were going 
on around them ; — remonstrated against these proceedings j warned 
him of their consequences ; and begged him to examine whether 
he was not under the influence of a wrong spirit. But he was 
deaf to all their remonstrances and entreaties ; — encouraged bodies 
of people, in a number of places, to withdraw from their pastors, 
and establish separate societies, in which all his peculiarities and 
extravagancies might be freely indulged ; — scattered division and 
strife in every direction ; — increased the number of the enemies of 
the revival ; — discouraged and disgusted not a few of its friends ; — 
and, in a word, created disorders, alienation, bitterness, and divi- 
sion, the consequences of which remain, in many parts of that 
country, to the present day. 

In this deplorable state of things, some of the most eminently 
wise and pious ministers in the land raised a warning voice against 
extravagancies which seemed likely to bear down all before them^ 
They were heard by some, and their preaching and writings did 
much good. But they were denounced by many as enemies of 
the revival ; and, in spite of every thing they could say or do, the 
infatuation of Davenport and his followers could not be arrested- 
Like other diseases, it ran its course, until the virulent matter 
which gave it aliment was in a measure expended. The Holy 
Spirit, in the mean time, was grieved and took his departure ; and 
a spirit of discord, contention, and animosity took the place of his 
hallowed influence. 



32 APPENDIX. 

It is true, Mr. Davenport, in 1744, became sensible of his folly 
and sin, and published an humble confession and recantation, in 
which he acknowledged that he had been actuated by a wrong 
spirit ; lamented many parts of his conduct ; and was in some 
measure restored to the fellowship of his injured brethren. But to 
repair the mischief which he had done was beyond his power. The 
friends of Zion had been clad in mourning. Her enemies had tri- 
umphed. Truth lay bleeding in the streets. Congregations had 
been torn in pieces and scattered. New societies had been estab- 
lished upon fanatical principles, and could not be reclaimed. Im- 
mortal souls had been disgusted with what claimed to be religion, 
driven from the house of God, and probably lost forever. The 
enemies of real revivals of religion, who were many and powerful, 
had become confirmed and hardened in their hostility. And many 
personal and ecclesiastical desolations had been produced, over 
which their author might mourn and weep, but which he could not 
remedy.* 

Scenes in some measure similar have been repeatedly exhibited 
since that time. Of these, I have neither time nor inclination to 
speak of more than one. The case to which I refer is that of the 
remarkable revivals which took place in the years 1800, 1801, and 
1802, in the western country, and more particularly within the 
bounds of the Synod of Kentucky. My impression is, that the most 
enlightened and sincere friends of vital piety, who had the best op- 
portunity of being intimately acquainted with the revivals referred 
to, believe them to have been a real work of the Holy Spirit, or at 
least to have been productive of a number of genuine conversions. 
But that this work of grace was attended, and finally overshadow- 
ed, disgraced and terminated by fanaticism and disorders of the 
most distressing character, will not, probably, now be questioned 
by any competent judges. This excitement began in Logan 
county, in Kentucky , but soon spread over all the state, and into 
the neighboring states. Besides increased attention to the usual 
seasons, and the ordinary means of religious worship, there were, 
during the summers of the years just mentioned, large camp-meet- 
ings held, and a number of days and nights in succession spent in 

* See Prince'3 Christian History, Nos. 82, 83, 103, &c. Trumbull's History of Connecticut, 
Book ii, Chapter 8. 



APPENDIX. 33 

almost unceasing religious exercises. At these meetings, hun- 
dreds, and, in some cases, thousands of people might have been 
seen and heard, at the same time, engaged in singing and prayer, 
in exhortation and preaching, in leaping, shouting, disputing and 
conversing, with a confusion scarcely describable. This wonder- 
ful excitenrtent may be considered as standing related, both as 
cause and efifect, to several other deplorable irregularities.* A love 
of excitement and of agitation seemed to take possession of the 
people. They began to suppose that when these were absent, no- 
thing was done. A number of hot headed young men, intoxicated 
with the prevailing element of excitement, and feeling confident of 
their own powers and call jto the work, — though entirely destitute 
of any suitable education, — assumed the office of public exhorters 
and instructors. These were soon afterwards licensed to preach ; 
a majority of the Presbytery hoping that, although not regularly 
qualified, they might be useful. When once this door was open- 
ed, it was found difficult to close it. Candidate after candidate, of 
this character, and on this plan, was licensed, and subsequently or- 
dained, until this description of ministers threatened to become a 
majority of the whole body. As might have been expected, a 
new source of trouble now appeared. A number of these raw and 
ignorant young men, and a few of the older ministers, began to 
manifest great laxness as to their theological opinions. And a. new 
Presbytery having been set off, consisting chiefly of those who 
were friendly to the new opinions and measures, became a sort of 
mint for issuing, in great abundance, similar coin. Candidates 
were freely licensed and ordained who declined adopting the Con- 
fession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church, in the usual form. 
They were received on their declaring, that they adopted that Con- 
fession " only so far as they considered it as agreeing with the 
word of God."*^ On this plan, it is manifest, subscription was a 
piece of solemn mockery. Persons of all conceivable sentiments 
might freely enter at such a door. The consequence was that 
Armenians and Pelagians actually entered the Presbyterian Church, 
and went on rapidly to multiply, until the decisive measures of 
the Synod of Kentucky, and of the General Assembly arrested the 

* See President Bishop's Outline of tho Ilibtory oi'tlie Cliurch in Kentucky, p. 117. 
E 



34 APPENDIX. 

progress of the evil. By means of the measures referred to, these 
disorderly intruders, with their pertinacious adherents, were finally 
separated from the Synod of Kentucky. A majority of them 
formed the body known by the name of the " Cumberland Presby- 
terians," now consisting of a number of Presbyteries, professing to 
adopt the Presbyterian form of government, but avowedly em- 
bracing Semi -pelagian principles in theology. Another, but smaller 
portion, formed a new body, denominated " Chrystians," and 
sometimes ^'New-Lights," or '' Stoneites," (from the name of 
their principal leader) and became a kind of enthusiastic, noisy So- 
cinians. While the remainder, under the same lawless impulse, 
took a third course, and fell into all the fanatical absurdities of 
" Shakerism." 

In this case, indeed, as in some of those before recited, several 
of the ministerial brethren, more advanced in life, who had lent 
their names and their influence to these deplorable disorders, be- 
came, after a while, sensible of their mistake ; acknowledged their 
fault ; and were restored to the bosom of the Presbyterian Church. 
But, as in former cases, not until mischiefs then beyond their con- 
trol had been consummated. The mournful results of their course 
had been predicted, and they were entreated to guard against the 
division and corruption to which it could not fail of leading. But 
they would not be prevailed upon to pause, until the Church had 
been rent in pieces ; — until heresies of the grossest kind had been 
engendered and embodied ; — and until they had effectually scatter- 
ed, in that country, the seeds of deep and extended ecclesiastical 
desolation. No intelligent Christian, it is believed, who has any 
adequate acquaintance with the course of the events in question, 
has any doubt, that these revivals, on account of their sad accom- 
paniments, left the churches in the west in afar worse state than 
they had been hefore. Anterior to the occurrence of these scenes, 
their state had borne chiefly a negative character. There was a 
lamentable absence of religious knowledge, privileges, and feeling. 
But now there was generated a bitter hostility to revivals of reli- 
gion ; a systematic, bold and wide-spread infidelity ; and such a 
division and alienation of the sound materials for ecclesiastical or- 
ganizations which were left, as to throw them back for many 
years, as to any desirable religious order. As to the disorders 



APPENDIX. S5 

which have marked some revivals of still more recent date, I dare 
not trust myself either to recount or discuss them. But enough, 
I trust, has been said to answer my purpose. I have stated the 
facts of other times just as they are recorded by the pen of impar- 
tial history, without allowing myself, to the best of my knowledge 
and behef, to disguise, or to caricature a single feature in any por- 
trait. Every discerning reader will be able to apply the past to 
the present, and to see, in the errors and sufferings of our fathers, 
some of those mistakes which we ought carefully to avoid. God 
grant that we may none of us reject the lesson, until it shall be 
too late to profit by it ! 

It was remarked, on a preceding page, that the disorders which 
occurred in the Synod of Kentucky were early connected with 
Camp-meetings. It is my impression that Camp -meetings began 
in the Presbyterian Church ; that they were first adopted from a 
kind of necessity, in a country where houses for public worship 
were few, and of small size, and, of course, altogether insufficient 
for receiving the great crowds which collected on particular occa- 
sions, and who were in a state of mind which prompted them to 
remain a number of days at the place of meeting. In such cir- 
cumstances, encamping in the open air seemed to be unavoidable. 
But what was begun from necessity^ was afterwards, in many ca- 
ses, continued from choice. Camp-meetings were found to furnish 
admirable means for the propagation of strong excitement. The 
evils, however, to which they naturally led, soon diminished their 
popularity with calm and impartial observers. Our Methodist 
brethren, it is believed, took this plan from us ; and retained it for 
many years, as one of their favorite methods of conducting wor- 
ship for the purpose of effect. But, although not yet wholly dis- 
carded from that body, it is no longer so great a favorite, or so ex- 
tensively employed, as formerly. Hence a pious and judicious 
minister of that denomination lately said to a friend of mine — '* I 
am a little surprised at you Presbyterians. We tried the machine 
of Camp-meetings for a number of years, and have but recently dis- 
mounted from it, scarcely escaping with whole bones ; when, lo, 
you are disposed to mount again, and once more to venture on the 
per ilou s experiment ! " 



36 APPENDIX. 

I confess I deeply regret that the use of Camp-meetings should 
be resumed in our body. Where they are necessary^ that is, 
where an assembled multitude cannot be accommodated in any 
other way, — as was evidently the case with some of the audien- 
ces of John the Baptist, and afterwards, in some cases, with those 
of our Lord, — and as, doubtless, has happened in a number of in- 
stances since ; — let them be freely employed. I am far from sup- 
posing that they are necessarily, and always injurious. Far less 
that all the converts which have been numbered on such occa- 
sions, were of a spurious character. By no means. Wherever 
the word of God is faithfully and powerfully presented, it never 
fails, I believe, of doing some good. It has never been my lot to 
see a Presbyterian Camp-meeting. But I have had an opportuni- 
ty of personally witnessing the effects of such a scene, as they ap- 
peared among our Methodist brethren. And the general impres- 
sion which they made upon me, was, I acknowledge, by no means 
favorable. To say nothing of the irregularities and abuses which 
it is difficult, if not impossible, in ordinary cases, wholly to avoid, 
on the skirts, and sometimes in the interior, of such camps ; — they 
have always appeared to me adapted to make religion more an af- 
fair of display, of impulse, of noise, and of animal sympathy, than 
of the understanding, the conscience, and the heart. In short, 
they have always struck me as adapted, in their ordinary form, to 
produce effects on our intellectual and moral nature analogous to 
those of strong drink en the animal economy ; — ^that is, to excite, 
to warm, and to appear to strengthen for a time ; but only to pave 
the way for a morbid expenditure of " sensorial power," as we say 
concerning the animal economy — and for consequent debility and 
disease. 

Some of my brethren, I am aware, honestly, and I have no doubt, 
piously, entertain a different opinion. I judge them not. " To 
their own Master they stand or fall." I have merely ventured to 
pour out on paper the fulness of a heart intensely solicitous, if I do 
not deceive myself, for the extension and the honor of true reli- 
gion ; and desiring, as sincerely as any friend of Camp-meetings in 
the land, the multiplication, and the universal triumph of genuine 
revivals. I claim no particular skill, or extent of information on 
this subject ; and am cordially willing to sit and learn at the feet 



APPENDIX. 87 

of any brother who has lessons of sound and adequate experience, 
and, above all, of inspired wisdom, to offer on this subject. But 
until such can be produced to my satisfaction, — I must be allowed, 
as a commissioned and sworn '* watchman on the walls of Zion," 
(however incompetent) to give warning, "according to the best of 
my knowledge and understanding." 

While I speak thus candidly on the subject of Camp-meetings, 
allow me to volunteer a word in relation to what are commonly 
styled Anxious Seats. They are connected, and not very remote- 
ly, with the subject I have undertaken to discuss. Far be it from 
me to undertake to pronounce on those brethren who have thought 
it their duty to countenance them, a sentence of condemnation ; or 
to question that good has sometimes been done where they have 
been used. But this, I must insist, is not, in all cases, a safe crite- 
rion of duty. Men may be savingly benefitted by the instrumen- 
tality of means which all would unite in condemning. The deci- 
sive question is, can this method of proceeding be considered as 
the best mode, nay as a really eligible mode, of drawing to a point, 
and ascertaining, the exercises of serious inquirers ? Is it the best 
way of deciding on the digested feelings, the deliberate purpose of 
persons, whose attention has been aroused, it may be for the first 
time, and perhaps only a few minutes before, to the great subject of 
religion ? If, indeed, I were called upon to address one or more in- 
dividuals on a journey, as Philip was, in the case of the Ethiopian 
Eunuch ; — individuals whom I never expected to see again, after 
the passing hour ; — I might, without impropriety, call them to de- 
clare their decision within that hour, and baptize them, as Philip 
did. Or, if I had occasion to speak to a mixed multitude, the 
greater part of whom could only remain a few days in the place 
where the Gospel was preached to them, — as was the situation of 
many in the city of Jerusalem, on the day o^ Pentecost ; — it would 
strike me as proper to call them, not merely to an immediate deci- 
sion — ^between the claims of God and the world, which indeed 

OUGHT ALWAYS TO BE DONE BY EVERY MINISTER ; but alsO tO an 

IMMEDIATE MANIFESTATION OF THAT DECISION, that they might 

be conversed and prayed with accordingly, in the few hours of 
opportunity which they were permitted to enjoy. But it would 
by no means occur to me as the most judicious way, in ordinary 



38 APPENDIX. 

cases, of drawing the line between the careless, and the truly anx- 
ious inquirer, to request all who were disposed to think seriously, 
to rise and present themselves before a public assembly, in the cha- 
racter of persons who had resolved, or were desirous, to devote 
themselves to the service of Christ, — and this, perhaps, at the close 
of the very sermon by means of which it was hoped they had, for 
the first time, begun to feel and inquire about salvation ; and, of 
course, in a few minutes after they thus began to feel. If I were 
to make such a request, I should expect to find the persons rising 
and presenting themselves in compliance with it, to be, for the 
most part, the forward, the sanguine, the rash, the self-confident, 
and the self-righteous; and that many, who felt more deeply, 
and yet hesitated about announcing themselves so suddenly as anx- 
ious inquirers, and, of course, kept their seats, would prove to be 
the modest, the humble, the broken-hearted, who had a deep im- 
pression of the deceitfulness of the heart, and who considered the 
importance of pondering well the solemnity of every step on a sub- 
ject of such unutterable moment. 

I am aware that the advocates of the system of" anxious seats," 
urge, with some plausibility, that, in consideration of the natural 
tendency of the impenitent to stifle convictions, and to tamper with 
the spirit of procrastination, it is desirable that they should be pre- 
vailed upon, as soon as possible, to "commit themselves" on this 
great subject. That a decisive step in relation to this subject is 
desirable^ and that it ought to be taken without delay, is certain. 
But, at the same time, that it ought to be taken without rashness, 
with knowledge, with due consideration, and with sacred care not 
to mistake a transient emotion, for a deep impression, or a settled 
purpose, is equally certain. Suppose, after a solemn and pointed 
sermon, an invitation to be given to all present who felt the impor- 
tance of an immediate attention to " the things which belong to 
their peace," to come forward and take the seats provided for 
them near the pulpit. Suppose two hundred individuals to avail 
themselves of this invitation, and to present themselves before the 
church as objects of attention and prayer. And suppose, at the 
end of three months, fifty of these to unite themselves with the 
professing people of God, on the ground of " a good hope through 
grace j" — fifty more to take the same step, not because they were 



APPENDIX. 39 

satisfied of their Christian character ; but because they had " com- 
mitted themselves," and did not wish to appear fickle, or apos- 
tates : — and the remaining hundred to return, with greater obdura- 
cy than before, to their former careless and sinful course. I say, 
suppose such steps, and such a result as I have stated to occur ; — 
would it bo deemed, by judicious Christians, a result, on the 
whole, more favorable for the best interests of the Redeemer's 
kingdom, than if, in pursuance of what are called the ^' old mea- 
sures," in such cases, none but the fifty genuine converts had ever 
been brought forward to public view at all, and not even these un- 
til they had enjoyed an opportunity to bring their exercises to the 
test of time ; to gain and digest the elements of Christian know- 
ledge, and to " count the cost" of their undertaking ? — The 
Church indeed, in the latter case, might not grow in numbers 
quite so rapidly ; and her movements might not be quite so audi- 
ble and imposing :■ — but, methinks, her growth would be more 
likely to prove healthful. She would be less burdened with spu- 
rious members. She would be more likely to escape the multiplied 
evils naturally arising from the fact of a large portion of her mem- 
bers being hurried forward in such a school of agitation, immature 
training, and noisy excitement ; and much less in danger of placing 
both the fifty who insincerely took upon themselves the vows of 
Christ, and the hundred who " drew back," in a state far more pe- 
rilous than ever, with regard to their final salvation. 

Let it not be said, that inviting to " anxious seats" is the only 
effectual method of ascertaining who are under serious impressions, 
and who are not. Why is it not quite as effectual to give a pub- 
lic invitation to all who are in any degree seriously impressed, or 
anxious, to remain after the congregation is dismissed, or to meet 
their pastor the next evening, in some convenient apartment, for 
the purpose of disclosing their feelings, and of being made the sub- 
jects of instruction and prayer. Nay, why is not the latter method 
very much preferable to the former } It surely gives quite as good 
an opportunity to ascertain numbers, and to distinguish persons 
and cases. It affords a far better opportunity to give distinct and 
appropriate instruction to particular individuals. It prevents the 
mischief of dragging into public view, and even into the highest 
degree of publicity, those whose exercises are immature, and per- 



40 APPENDIX. 

haps transient. And it avoids the danger, which to many, and 
especially to young people, may be very formidable ; — I mean the 
danger of being inflated by becoming objects of public attention, 
and by being forthwith addressed and announced, as is too often the 
case, as undoubted "converts." Surely the incipient exercises of 
the awakened and convinced, ought to be characterized by much 
calm self-examination, and much serious, retired, closet work. If 
thfere be any whose impressions are so slight and transient that 
they cannot be safely permitted to wait until the next evening ; it 
will hardly be maintained that such persons are prepared to '' com- 
mit themselves" by publicly taking an anxious seat. And if there 
be any whose vanity would dispose them to prefer pressing for- 
ward to such a seat in the presence of a great assembly, to meet- 
ing their pastor and a few friends in a more private manner, the 
Church, I apprehend, can promise herself little comfort from the 
multiplication of such members. 

I have just said, that, among those who came forward on such 
an extemporaneous invitation, I should expect to find the san- 
guine, the self-confident, the superficially informed and exercised, 
as a matter of course. On a late occasion, and in a house of wor- 
ship, not very far distant from this place, when, after a solemn 
discourse, a request was made that all who were anxious, or re- 
solved to attend to their spiritual interests, should immediately 
arise, and signify their determination ; the first person that arose 
was a young man, in whom the odour of strong drink was very of- 
fensive ; who was evidently more than half drunk at the time ; and 
who never, before or afterwards, manifested any serious concern 
on the subject. In another place, and on another occasion, when 
a similar request was made, the only person that arose was a wo- 
man of very dubious character, who is not supposed, I believe, by 
any one, to have been, either then, or since, under any thing that 
deserves to be called real anxiety of mind. The great Searcher of 
hearts is my witness, that I do not mention these facts for the 
purpose of casting any unfair odium on the practice to which I re- 
fer ; but merely for the purpose of exemphfying the principles 
which I wish to inculcate, and of showing that the dangers which 
I deprecate are not the mere phantoms of a disordered fancy. 



APPENDIX. 41 

In fine, I suppose the truth concerning both " Camp-meetings," 
and " anxious seats" to be about this : That however useful they 
may have really been in a few cases, of very pecuhar character ; 
and however they may have appeared to some honest but ardent 
minds, to operate favorably in a still greater number of cases ; yet, 
as means of stated and promiscuous use, or, in fact, as means to 
be used at ally unless in very special circumstances, they are emi- 
nently adapted to generate fanaticism ; to give a taste for ostenta- 
tious display in the service of the sanctuary ; to favor the rapid 
multiplication of superficial, ignorant, untrained professors of reli- 
gion ; and to prepare the way for almost every species of disorder. 

I have been acquainted with more than one Church in which 
the extemporaneous mode of introducing members, of which I am 
speaking, has been extensively practised. And I must say, the 
result has been in no degree adapted to recommend the practice. 
The great numbers thus added made a most animating figure in 
the religious periodicals of the day ; but, after a year or two, a 
large portion of them were not to be found. '* Their goodness, like 
the morning cloud and the early dew," had passed away. They 
had, in a great measure, withdrawn from the house of God, and 
from all attendance on sealing ordinances ; and needed as much as 
ever to be gathered in from the " highways and hedges," and to 
be made the subjects of a new conversion. The truth is, any plan, 
in the house of God, for separating the precious and the vile ; for 
drawing a line between the Church and the world, which does not 
provide for an intelligent and deliberate, as well as serious entrance 
into the body of Christ ; which does not make some good degree 
of knowledge as well as feeling necessary in the candidate for ad- 
mission ; however it may gratify one whose '* ruling passion" is 
to multiply professed converts to the greatest possible extent ; and 
however plausibly it may appear in the public journals of the day ; — 
will disclose miserable results in the end, as to any genuine build- 
ing up of the Redeemer's kingdom. 

But I will not run the risk of wearying your patience by farther 
enlarging on this subject. I shall, therefore, after two or three 
general remarks, which appear to me to be suggested by the fore- 
going facts, close this long letter. 

F 



42 APPENDIX. 

The first remark is, that there is a striking similarity in the dis- 
orders which have attended and marred revivals of rehgion in all 
ages. As in doctrine, what is thought by many a new opinion, is 
frequently found, upon inquiry, nothing more than the revival of 
an error long ago exploded^ — so in measures of practical disorder, 
what wears to many all the attraction of novelty, is a repetition — 
perhaps the fiftieth time — of some old contrivance for producing a 
sudden and strong impression on the feelings of a popular assembly. 
In fact, as real religion is the same in all ages, so its counterfeits 
are the same ; human nature is the same ', and the symptoms and 
morbid results of enthusiasm, superstition and fanaticism are sub- 
stantially the same. We need not be surprized, then, to fmd an- 
cient irregularities so remarkably resembling the modern. We 
have seen that whenever masses of men became excited, and espe- 
cially when this excitement seized the minds of those who had 
been bred in ignorance and thoughtlessness ; — as they were brought 
into a new world ; so they were apt to think, as a matter of course, 
that some new and bold measures must be adopted ; that exigen- 
cies which are as old as human nature, but which appear to them 
new, call for new modes of proceeding ; and that the counsels of 
age and experience, like the exploded theories of by-gone days, are 
no longer seasonable or adequate. Hence the inordinate love of 
novel contrivances for arresting the popular attention, and impress- 
ing the popular mind ; the spirit of rash and uncharitable denunci- 
ation ; the remarkable fact, that, in all ages, young, and, of course, 
inexperienced ministers, have commonly taken the lead, and disco- 
vered the most headstrong obstinacy in commencing and pursuing 
measures of an innovating character ; a tendency to undervalue the 
settled order of the Church, and to usurp the functions of the sa- 
cred office ; yielding the mind to impulses and enthusiastic impres- 
sions ; denouncing all who refused to concur in these things as 
graceless formalists ; encouraging females to take the lead in social 
prayer ; calling upon penitents to make public confession of their 
private sins, as indispensable to forgiveness, and spiritual prosperi- 
ty ; claiming to have a gift, unknown to others, of promoting ge- 
nuine revivals, to be the only real friends of true, spiritual religion ; 
— These are some of the fruits of human corruption which attended 
and marred revivals of religion centuries ago ; and which have ap- 



APPENDIX. 43 

peared every few years since, in similar connection, and with end- 
less repetition. It is an undoubted fact, that most of those well 
meant irregularities, on which some truly pious people now look 
with approbation and interest, as means pre-eminently adapted for 
promoting religion, have been confidently proposed, tried, found in 
in the end to work badly, and exploded, over and over again ; — and 
yet there are those who still dream that they can be made to ac- 
complish what all experience has pronounced to be impossible. 

The second remark which I would make, as the result of the 
the whole, is, that, as we may confidently take for granted that en- 
lightened and stable Christians will not be shaken, either in their 
faith or hope, by the occasional and even prominent exhibition of 
these disorders in connection with revivals of religion ; so it is im- 
portant to put inquirers on their guard against " stumbling at this 
stumbling stone." Some, when they see what claims to be reli- 
gion, and even a genuine and precious revival of religion, tarnished 
by management, or extravagances which they cannot approve, are 
apt hastily to conclude, that vital piety, and revivals of religion are 
all a dream. I fear that this fatal delusion is often adopted ; and 
cannot but also fear that the disorders which often attend revivals 
frequently minister to it. But it is a delusion. The very exis- 
tence of counterfeits, shows that there is true coin. In every de- 
partment of affairs, temporal or spiritual, in which men are called 
to act they discover their imperfection. The Bible teaches us to 
expect this. And if we did not find it so, the Bible representation 
of human nature would not be verified. When, therefore, any are 
tempted to doubt the reality or the importance of what are called 
by intelligent Christians, revivals of religion, because they have 
been often tarnished by unhappy admixtures or accompaniments ; 
they adopt a conclusion which does as little credit to their scriptu- 
ral knowledge, and their historical reading, as it does to their Chris- 
tian experience. The work of the Holy Spirit, in renovating and 
sanctifying the heart, is the glory and hope of the Church. That 
there should be seasons in which this work is made to appear with 
peculiar lustre and power, so entirely falls in with all the works 
and ways of God, that the only wonder is, that anyone who reads 
the New-Testament, or looks abroad on the face of Christian socie- 
ty, should cherish a remaining doubt. And although the Spirit is 



44 APPENDIX. 

a divine Person, and all his influences infinitely pure and holy ; yet, 
when we recollect that its subjects are sinful men, who remain, af- 
ter they become the subjects of his power, but imperfectly sanctifi- 
ed ; and that those who preside over the dispensation of the vari- 
ous means of grace, are also sinful, fallible men ; — though we may 
mourn and weep, we certainly cannot wonder, that marks — sad 
marks of our weakness and fallibility should appear in our most 
precious seasons, and in our holiest services. 

The last remark with which I would trouble you, is, that we 
ought to guard against undertaking to condemn, as of course lack- 
ing piety, those who favor some or all of the disorders to which 
reference has been made. We have seen that one of the charac- 
teristics which seldom fail to mark those brethren, is a disposition 
to anathematize as unfaithful or graceless, all who cannot adopt 
their views, and pursue their plans. It is important that we guard 
against imitating this unworthy example. While we avoid, with 
sacred care, all participation in their faults ; while we bear testi- 
mony faithfully and openly against whatever we deem unfriendly 
to the cause of genuine religion ; let us remember that some zea- 
lous and active servants of Jesus Christ ; brethren whose piety we 
cannot doubt, and whose usefulness we can have no disposition to 
undervalue or abridge ; — have appeared, for a time, as the patrons 
of these mistakes. Let us honor their piety, rejoice in their use- 
fulness, forgive their mistakes, and pray that they may be brought 
to more correct views. 

That you and I, my dear Friend, may have grace given us to 
love and promote, with our whole hearts, genuine revivals of re- 
ligion, and to guard against every thing which tends to impede or 
mar them ; and that we may speedily enjoy the unspeakable plea- 
sure of seeing the power of the Gospel in its choicest influences per- 
vade our land, and the world ; — is the unfeigned prayer of your af- 
fectionate brother in Christ. 

SAMUEL MILLER. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 

Princeton^ March 8, 1832. 



LETTER V. 

From the REVEREND ALVAN HYDE, D. D. 

Pastor of a Congregational church in Lee, Massachusetts. 

Lee, March 22d, 1832. 

Dear Brother, 

In compliance with your particular request, I now commence a 
concise narrative of the work of God's Holy Spirit, in reviving re- 
ligion, at several periods, among the people of my pastoral charge. 
Conscious of the many defects which have been attached to my 
ministry, I engage in this service with diffidence, and yet I humbly 
hope, with a sincere desire, that the great Head of the church may 
thereby be glorified. What I shall communicate, will be a simple 
and unvarnished statement of facts, which my own eyes have seen 
and my own ears have heard, taken from minutes which I made, 
at the time they occurred. These facts will develope the astonish- 
ishing mercy of God to a guilty people, and to the unworthy in- 
strument, who has stood for so many years as their spiritual teach- 
er and guide. It will be seen, as I proceed in the narrative, what 
doctrines were preached, and what means and measures were adopt- 
ed, both before these revivals commenced, and while they were in 
progress. 

The first season of *' refreshing from the presence of the Lord," 
which this people enjoyed, commenced in June 1792, a few days 
after the event of my ordination. There was, at this time, no re- 
ligious excitement in this region of country, nor had I knowledge 
of there being a special work of God's grace in any part of the land. 
The church here was small and feeble, having only twenty-one 
male members belonging to it. It was, however, a little praying 
band, and they were often together, like the primitive christians, con- 
tinuing with one accord in prayer. Immediately on being stationed 
here, as a watchman, I instituted a weekly religious conference, to be 
holden on each Wednesday, and, in succession, at the various school 
houses in the town. These were well attended in every district, 
and furnished me with favorable opportunities to instruct the peo- 
ple, and to present the truths of the gospel to the old and young 



46 APPENDIX. 

in the most plain and familiar manner. This weekly meeting has 
been sustained to the present time, without losing any of its inte- 
rest ; and when I have been at home, has carried me around the 
town, as regularly as the weeks have returned. 

With a view to form a still more particular acquaintance with 
the people committed to my charge, I early began to make family 
visits in different sections of the town. These visits, of which I 
made a number in the course of a week, were improved wholly in 
conversing on the great subject of religion, and in obtaining, with as 
much correctness as I could, a knowledge of their spiritual state, 
that my instructions on the sabbath, and at the weekly meetings, 
might be better adapted to their case. This people had been for 
nine years without a pastor, and were unhappily divided in their 
religious opinions. Some were Calvinists, and favored the church, 
but the largest proportion were Arminians. And as they had been 
in the habit of maintaining warm disputes with each other on the 
doctrines of the bible, I calculated on having to encounter many 
trials. Contrary to my expectations, I found, on my first visits, 
many persons of different ages, under serious and very deep impres- 
sions, each one supposing his own burdens and distresses of mind, 
on account of his sins, to be singular, not having the least know- 
ledge that any others were awakened. It was evident, that the 
Lord had come into the midst of us in the greatness of his power, 
producing here and there, and among the young and old, deep con- 
viction of sin, and yet it was a still small voice. A marvellous 
work was begun, and it bore the most decisive marks of being 
God?s work. So great was the excitement, though not yet known 
abroad, that into whatever section of the town I now went, the peo- 
ple in that immediate neighborhood, would leave their wordly em- 
ployments, at any hour of the day, and soon fill a large room. Before 
I was aware, and without any previous appointment, I found myself, 
on these occasions, in the midst of a solemn and anxious assembly. 
Many were in tears, and bowed down under the weight of their sins, 
and some began to rejoice in hope. These seasons were spent in 
prayer and exhortation, and in conversing with the anxious, and 
with such as had found relief, by submitting themselves to God, 
adapting my instruction to their respective cases. This was done 
in the hearing of all who were present. Being then a youth, who 



APPENDIX. 47 

had seen but twenty-four years, and inexperienced, I felt weak in- 
deed ; and was often ready to sink under this vast weight of re- 
sponsibihty. But the Lord carried me along from one interesting 
scene to another. I was governed, in my movements, by what ap- 
peared to me to be the exigencies of the people. 

As yet there had been no public religious meeting, excepting 
on the sabbath. A weekly Lecture, at the meeting-house, was 
now appointed, to be on Thursday, and though it was in the most 
busy season of the year, the house was filled. This Lecture was 
continued for more than six months, without any abatement of at- 
tention ; in sustaining which, I was aided by neighboring minis- 
ters, and by numbers from a distance, who came to witness this 
display of sovereign grace. The former disputes of the people, re- 
specting religious sentiments, in a great measure, subsided, their 
consciences seeming to testify in favor of the truth. The work 
spread into every part of the town, and what was worthy of spe- 
cial notice, it was entirely confined within the limits of the town, 
excepting in the case of a few families, which usually attended pub- 
lic worship with us, from the borders of the adjacent towns. Es- 
pecially powerful was the work among those, who had taken their 
stand in opposition to the small church, and the distinguishing 
doctrines of grace. Many of this class were convinced, that they 
had always lived in error and darkness, and in a state of total aliena- 
tion from God. They were compelled, notwithstanding their for- 
mer hatred of the prominent truths of the gospel, to make the inte- 
resting inquiry, what shall we do to be saved? 

The truths which I exhibited in my public discourses, and in 
the many meetings between the sabbaths, were in substance the 
following : — the holiness and immutability of God ; the purity and 
perfection of his law ; the entire depravity of the heart, consisting 
in voluntary opposition to God and holiness ; the fulness and all- 
sufficiency of the atonement made by Christ ; the freeness of the 
offer of pardon, made to all, on condition of repentance ; the neces- 
sity of a change of heart, by the Holy Spirit, arising from the 
deep-rooted depravity of men, which no created arm could re- 
move ; the utter inexcusableness of sinners, in rejecting the kind 
overtures of mercy, as they acted freely and voluntarily in doing 
it ; and the duty and reasonableness of immediate submission to 



48 APPENDIX. 

God. These are some of the truths, which God appeared to own 
and bless, and which, through the agency of the Spirit, were 
made "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged 
sword." 

All our religious meetings were very much thronged, and yet 
were never noisy or irregular, nor continued to a late hour. They 
were characterized with a stillness and solemnity, which, I be- 
lieve, have rarely been witnessed. The converts appeared to re- 
nounce all dependence on their own doings, feeling themselves en- 
tirely destitute of righteousness, and that all their hope of salva- 
tion was in the mere mercy of God in Christ, to whom they were 
willing to be eternal debtors. To the praise of sovereign grace I 
may add, that the work continued, with great regularity and little 
abatement, nearly eighteen months. In this time, as appears from 
the records of the church, one hundred and ten persons of different 
ages, united themselves unto the Lord and his covenant people. 
All these were examined in the presence of the church, and were 
received, on the ground of their professing to have experienced a 
change of heart, and to have passed from death unto life. They 
appeared to exhibit the fruits of the spirit, and to exemplify the 
religion of Jesus in their subsequent lives. The instances of apos- 
tacy have been but few. Many of them have finished their course, 
and entered into the joy of their Lord. They gave evidence of 
enduring to the end, and of departing this life, in the triumphs of 
faith. Others remain to this day " burning and shining lights" in 
the church, some in this town, and some in the new settlements. 

This revival of religion produced a surprising change in the re- 
ligious sentiments and feelings of the people, and in the general as- 
pect of the town. It effected a happy union ; a union, which to an 
unusual extent, has continued to the present time. After the 
shower of grace had passed over, divine influences were not alto- 
gether withholden, nor did the people lose their relish for religious 
meetings. Insulated conversions to the cross and standard of the 
Redeemer, strongly marked as being genuine, frequently occurred. 
In the six following years, forty-two were added to the church, 
including some, who came from other churches. 

In the year 1800, we were again favored with special tokens of 
God's presence, in a work of the Holy Spirit. This display of 



APPENDIX. 49 

sovereign grace was witnessed, soon after I commenced a weekly 
religious conference, with particular reference to the young people ; 
and it was noticed, that the subjects of the work were confined 
almost wholly to those who attended this conference. As in the 
former revival, I explained and enforced the doctrines of the gospel, 
showing the youth, who flocked together in great numbers, that 
sinners had brought ruin upon themselves, and were awfully guilty 
and justly condemned, and that all their hope of salvation was in a 
crucified Saviour. Prayer and praise accompanied this instruction. 
No attempts were made to produce an excitement, only in view of 
the plain truths of the gospel. The great body of the people, as 
they did not attend on these means, were not affected and solem- 
nized, as they were in the first revival ; but the convictions of the 
awakened were clear ^ rational and pungent, and those who receiv- 
ed comfort, appeared understandingly to embrace the soul-humbling 
doctrines of the cross, and to be renewed in the temper of their 
minds. This revival occasioned an accession to the church of 
twenty-one persons, the most of whom were between the ages of 
sixteen and twenty -four. 

A few years now passed, in which we had no revival ; but 
many of our religious meetings were continued, and well attended, 
nor were we without evidence of the bestowment of God's special 
mercy, in rescuing sinners from deserved wrath. In this time 
twenty-nine persons, including a few who brought letters, were 
added to the church. 

In September 1806, the Lord graciously visited us again. 
This season of the out-pourings of his Spirit followed the death of 
a youth, a respectable and promising young man, who had been 
for several years, a constant attendant on the conferences of young 
people, and had acquired an uncommonly good understanding of 
the doctrines of Christianity. His death, which took place, when 
at a distance from home, was unexpected ; and his appearance, in 
the last days of his life, was peculiarly calculated to arouse the at- 
tention of his youthful companions. It pleased a sovereign God 
to accompany this providence, by the influences of the Holy Spi- 
rit. The effect was immediately visible and remarkable. On the 
sabbath succeeding the arrival of the afflictive intelligence, I 
preached to a crowded assembly from Heb. xi. 4. "He being 

G 



50 APPENDIX. 

dead, yet speaketh." It was indeed a memorable sabbath to 
many of this people. That divine influences were shed down 
upon us, that day, none could doubt. The solemn stillness and the 
flowing tears from many eyes evinced the presence of the Holy 
Spirit. More than twenty persons, who soon after exhibited evi- 
dence of having bowed in humble submission at the feet of Jesus, 
dated the commencement of their serious impressions, at that time. 
This work, in its progress, resembled a plentiful shower from a 
small cloud. It was powerful and refreshing indeed in one part of 
the town, affecting more or less in almost every family, before any 
deep impressions were noticed in other parts of the town. Even- 
tually the work spread in some measure ; but the most of the 
shower was apparently received, where divine influences first be- 
gan to fall. The season was precious, and was continued to us 
about a year. Our meetings were the same as before, and they 
were characterized with the same stillness and solemnity. Many 
new family altars were erected, and many were embraced as the 
disciples of Jesus, who had practically set him at nought. During 
this revival, and soon after it, seventy-one persons were received 
to the communion of the church. 

The six following years were years of coldness and spiritual 
dearth in the church, and of uncommon stupidity among the peo- 
ple. During this time twenty-two only were gathered into the 
church. We seemed to be ripening fast for the judgments of 
God. 

It is proper, in this place, to mention what might have been in- 
troduced before, that the church, males and females, were fre- 
quently called together for the express purpose of uniting in 
prayer, whether we were favored with special divine influences or 
not. Many such meetings have been attended, in the course of 
every year of my ministry. On these occasions, the church have 
been by themselves, confessing their sins, and imploring God to 
build up Zion. I have always been present, and the brethren, as 
they have been called upon by the pastor, have readily taken an ac- 
tive part, and led in these solemn devotions. These meetings have 
been very precious, and when closed, I have often heard the mem- 
bers say, " It is good to be here." They have been the means of 
keeping rehgion alive in the church, and of promoting brotherly 



APPENDIX. 51 

love and union. We have also been in the practice of observing 
whole days of Fasting and Prayer in the church, giving opportu- 
nity to any of the people, who were disposed, to attend with us. 
Great numbers have usually attended on these occasions, beside 
the members of the church, and God has appeared to bless these 
efforts. Many have acknowledged, that they felt their first convic- 
tions of sin at these meetings. 

In 1813, soon after a distressing and mortal sickness, which, in 
a short time, swept off many of the inhabitants, God returned to 
us again in mercy. His special presence, in the gift of the Holy 
Spirit, was manifestly with us until sometime in the year follow- 
ing. We enjoyed another little harvest of souls. The same 
weekly meetings, in which prayer was a principal exercise, were 
continued, and the same course of instruction was pursued. As 
fruits of this work of the Lord, twenty persons were added to the 
church. 

During the next seven years, though we were not favored with 
such tokens of mercy, as might be denominated a revival, (for stu- 
pidity greatly prevailed,) yet there were many insulated cases of 
awakening and hopeful conversion. Our meetings, on the Lord's 
day, continued to be full, and all other meetings were attended 
with interest. In this time seventy-six persons were received into 
the church, fifty-two from the world, and twenty-four by letter. 

In the summer of 1821, there was an evident increase of solem- 
nity in the church and congregation, and some individuals were 
known to be anxious for their souls. This appearance continued 
for several weeks, under the same means of grace, which the peo- 
ple had long enjoyed, but none were found who rejoiced in hope. 
The church often assembled together for prayer, and in the month 
of August, we observed a day of Fasting and Prayer. The meet- 
ing-house was well filled, and deep solemnity pervaded the con- 
gregation. The hearts of many seemed to " burn within them," 
and there were increasing indications from the rising cloud " of 
abundance of rain." We began to hear from one and another a 
new language, the language of submission to God. 

At this interesting crisis, the Rev. Asahel Nettleton spent a few 
days with us. He preached five sermons to overflowing assem- 
blies, and his labors were remarkably blessed. The Spirit of God 



52 APPENDIX. 

came down upon us, " like a rushing mighty wind." Conversions 
were frequent, sometimes several in a day, and the change in 
the feelings and views of the subjects was wonderful. At the 
suggestion of Mr. Nettleton, I now instituted what are called 
inquiring meetings. More than a hundred persons attended the 
first. These meetings, as I found them to be convenient, were 
continued through this revival ; and I have ever since made use of 
them, as occasion required, sometimes weekly, for many months 
in succession. The church have always been requested to assem- 
ble for prayer, in the upper room of a large school-house, in 
which the inquiring meetings have been attended. While the 
church have been engaged in prayer, a sufficient number of the 
brethren have been with the pastor to converse, in a low voice, 
with every individual in the inquiring room, giving opportunity for 
each one to make known the state of his feelings. This has been 
followed by instruction addressed to them all, and adapted to their 
cases, and by prayer. The ruined and helpless state of sinners, 
the exceeding wickedness of their hearts, and the awful conse- 
quences of neglecting the great salvation, have been expHcitly 
stated, on these occasions, and pressed on the minds of the inqui- 
rers. They have not been directed to take any steps preparatory 
to their accepting of Christ, but being acquainted with the nature 
and terms of the gospel, repentance toward God, and faith in Him, 
" who came to seek and to save that which was lost," have been 
enjoined upon them, as their immediate duty and only safe course. 
No language can describe the deep feeling, which has been mani- 
fested at some of these meetings. 

The work of the Holy Spirit in 1821, was continued to us un- 
til the close of the year. Many young heads of families, and oth- 
ers in the midst of life were among the happy subjects. The 
church received an accession of eighty-six persons as fruits of this 
revival. 

Between this revival, and that which took place in 1827, the 
church received only twenty-four, and nearly half of these were 
recommended to us from sister churches. The seasons of prayer 
in the church were frequent, and occasionally whole days of Fast- 
ing and Prayer, which all the people were invited to attend, were 
observed. The church also, by a large committee, selected from 



APPENDIX. 53 

their body, visited every family in the town, and conversed with 
parents and children and domestics on the concerns of their souls, 
and their prospects for eternity, closing these interviews with 
prayer. This has been repeatedly done, within the last ten years, 
and sometimes the whole has been accomplished in one day. The 
people have been publicly notified, on the sabbath, of the particu- 
lar day on which these visits were to be made, and the brethren 
appointed for this labor of love have had their respective districts 
assigned them. These have been solemn days, pre-eminently days 
of prayer in every part of the town, and profitable both to the 
brethren, who made the visits, and to the people who received 
them. 

On the sabbath preceding the first day of the year 1827, I in- 
vited the people, as had been our practice, to assemble, at the 
rising of the sun, in the sanctuary for the purpose of prayer and 
praise to that God, who had been our Preserver, and on whom we 
were dependant for all our blessings. Several hundreds convened, 
at that early hour, and some came from a distance of two and 
three miles. An uncommon interest was evidently felt in the 
meeting. Another display of the all-conquering grace of God com- 
menced, which was extensive and very powerful. This work of 
the Holy Spirit continued through the winter and spring. Many 
stubborn hearts were bowed, and not a few of the subjects were 
from that class of people, who appeared to be far from righteous- 
ness. In the course of a few months, it was found that thirty 
new domestic altars were erected, and many of them near the 
house of God, and erected by a number of our active, business- 
men. As the fruits of this revival, one hundred and twenty-five 
were added to the church. 

During the next four years, we received fourteen into the 
church, the most of whom were fi:om the world. 

In the year 1831, which was a year memorable for the effu- 
sions of the Spirit, in almost every part of our land, this people 
were not passed by. In the fore part of this year, it pleased God 
again to arrest the attention of many. For a number of months, 
the excitement was very great, and our meetings were frequent, 
crowded and solemn. Some instances of conversion early oc- 
curred, which were more striking than any we had ever witnessed. 



54 APPENDIX. 

The almighty and sovereign power of God was remarkably dis- 
played, evincing the truth of his own declaration, " I will have 
mercy on whom I will have mercy." This revival was followed 
by an accession to the church of forty-four persons. 

The whole number received into the church, during my minis- 
try, is six hundred and seventy-four. None of these have pre- 
sented themselves for examination, under two and three months, af- 
ter they began to cherish a hope of having passed from death unto 
life, and many have chosen to wait longer. Whenever we have 
been favored with a season of the out-pourings of the Spirit, meet- 
ings have been appointed with particular reference to the young con- 
verts, at which they have been freely conversed with, respecting the 
ground and reason of their hope, and they have had opportunity to 
test their characters, by having the great truths of the gospel pre- 
sented clearly to their view. They have been warned of the dan- 
ger of being deceived. The Confession of Faith has also been read 
and explained to them, and their full assent to it has been obtained, 
before they offered themselves to the church. 

In all the revivals, of which I have given a brief account, it has 
been evident, that God and not man has selected the subjects of re- 
newing grace ; yet a large proportion have been taken from reli- 
gious families. In some instances, heads of families, with their 
children and children's children, sit together at the table of the 
Lord. 

I would here remark, that several praying meetings have been 
sustained in this town wholly by the female members of the church, 
and I have had no doubts of their utility. They have been the 
means of quickening those, who have attended them. What rich 
blessings these prayers may have drawn down upon us will be 
known in the great day, which is approaching. But while I have 
rejoiced, in knowing such meetings were holden, I have never 
countenanced the praying of women, in promiscuous assembUes, 
whether great or small, from a full conviction, that the practice is 
contrary to the spirit of God's word. Neither have I seen it to be 
proper, even in seasons of the greatest excitement, to call upon im- 
penitent sinners, either in our public meetings, or in the inquiring 
room, to manifest their determination to seek religion, or to give any 
pledge that they would do it. This would be inconsistent with the 



APPENDIX. 65 

views I entertain of the depravity of the heart. It vrould be a de- 
parture from the practice of Christ and his apostles. In their 
preaching, they inculcated repentance and submission to God, as 
the immediate duty of sinners. 

Though all, who have been received into this church, have not 
appeared equally well, as being devoted and established christians, 
yet, generally speaking, they have exhibited evidence, in their walk, 
of a moral change, and of being on the Lord's side. We have had 
frequent calls for the exercise of christian discipline. Some of the 
members have been led publicly to confess their faults, from a con- 
sciousness of their having brought reproach on the precious cause 
of Christ, and some, refusing to be reclaimed, have been cut off 
from our communion. The number of the latter is small. 

In conclusion, I will say, and I feel a pleasure in saying it, that 
the church have manifested a commendable zeal and liberality in 
supporting the various charitable institutions of the day, and in 
promoting the cause of temperance, which, for a few years past, 
has been regarded as a subject of the deepest interest to the cause of 
the Redeemer and to our country. 

My only apology for the length of this letter is, that I have ta- 
ken a survey of the labors and events of forty years. 
From, Rev. Sir, your brother in Christ, 

ALVAN HYDE. 

Rev. William B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER VI. 

From the REVEREND JOEL HAWES, D. D. 
Pastor of ihe First Congregational church in Hartford, Connecticut. 

Hartford, March \2th^ 1832. 
My Dear Brother, 

You request me to " furnish some account of the revivals that 
have fallen under my observation, or have occurred within the 
sphere of my labors." My reply must be brief, but will, I trust, 
embrace the principal points which are of any importance to your 
object. 

The church of which I am pastor, hke most of the early church- 
es of New-England, was planted in the spirit of revivals. This 
circumstance has had great influence on its subsequent history. 
Revivals of religion have always been held in high estimation by 
the church ; and many have been the seasons of spiritual refresh- 
ing, with which God has visited this vine, since it was first plant- 
ed by Hooker and Stone, and the faithful men who followed them 
into the wilderness. But passing over these, as not coming within 
the design of your request, it is more to the purpose to state, that 
when the present series of revivals commenced, in this part of our 
country, about forty years ago, this church shared richly in the 
blessing. Dr. Strong was then its pastor. He was a man of a 
clear and powerful mind, and of decidedly evangelical sentiments. 
During the last twenty-five years of his ministry, he witnessed 
three special seasons of revival among his people ; in the progress 
of which large additions were made to the church, the tone of 
piety was much elevated, and the state of religion generally in the 
city greatly improved. The last of these seasons was of nearly 
two years' continuance, at no one time very powerful, but marked 
with a constant, silent descent of divine influence ; producing ge- 
neral seriousness among the people, with frequent conversions and 
frequent accessions to the communion of the church. The fruits 
were decidedly good. The church was large and flourishing, hap- 
pily united in sentiment, and '' walking," in some good degree, 
'* in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." 



APPENDIX. 57 

About the close of this revival in 1816, Dr. Strong died. I vras 
called to take charge of the church in 1818. During the first 
three years of my ministry, though not entirely unattended w^ith 
tokens of divine favor, I witnessed nothing like a revival among 
my people. Early in 1821, a work of great power commenced, 
and continued, with some variations of interest, during the year. 
As the fruits of this visitation of mercy, nearly two hundred were 
added to the church. Some of these, as was to be expected among 
so large a number, have since given painful evidence that they 
were deceived in regard to the foundation of their hope. But 
of the great body of them, I am happy to say, they have con- 
tinued to adorn their profession by an exemplary Christian life. 
Since that period, we have enjoyed three other seasons of special 
religious attention ; but neither of them was of so long continu- 
ance, or productive of so abundant fruits as was the first. During 
the time I have been connected with the church, about five hun- 
dred and fifty have been added to its communion, not less than 
four-fifths of whom are to be regarded as the fruits of revivals. 

I know not that there has been any thing in the mode of con- 
ducting the revivals with which we have been favored, or in the 
effects that have resulted from them, so peculiar as to be worthy 
of notice. It was the object of my predecessor, as it has been 
mine, to preach the doctrines of the gospel with great clearness 
and discrimination at such seasons ; — to guard against every thing 
like irregularity and noise and misguided feeling ; and to encou- 
rage none in the indulgence of a hope, that did not appear to be 
based on an intelligent conviction of truth and a sincere conver- 
sion of the heart to God. That the effects have, on the whole, 
been eminently happy, it is needless to affirm after what has now 
been stated. I have often said, in addresses from my pulpit, that 
the church is what it is very much from the influence of revivals of 
of religion. And it is now my sober judgment, that if there is, 
among the people of my charge, any cordial belief and love of the 
distinguishing doctrines of the gospel ; any serious practical regard 
to the duties of the Christian life ; any self-denial and bearing of 
the cross and following Christ according to his commands ; any 
active benevolence and engagedness in doing good ; in short, any 
pious efficient concern for the glory of God and the salvation of 

H 



58 APPENDIX. 

sinners, either at home or abroad, in Christian or in heathen lands, — 
all this is to be traced, in no small part, to the influence of revi- 
vals of religion ; and is to be found, in an eminent degree, among 
those who have been added to the church as fruits of revivals. 

The above remarks, I doubt not, are equally applicable to the 
other churches, in this city, belonging to the Congregational de- 
nomination. A large proportion of their numbers date their Chris- 
tian hope from some season of special divine influence, and the 
tone of religious feeling and action has risen in proportion to the 
frequency v^^ith vrhich such seasons have been enjoyed. Nor is 
this remark to be confined to the churches of this city. It is ap- 
plicable to the churches of our connexion throughout the State. In 
1829 a letter vras addressed to the Congregational ministers of 
Connecticut, proposing, among other inquiries, the following: — 
** 1. What was the whole number of professors of religion in your 
church at the commencement of the year 1820 } 2. What num- 
ber were added to your church by profession during the years 
1820,-1-2-3-4 ? 3. Of those who are now members of your 
church, what proportion may be considered as the fruit of a revi- 
val, and what is their comparative standing for piety and active 
benevolent enterprize .^" I have not by me, at this time, the do- 
cuments that were communicated in answer to these or other simi- 
lar inquiries. But I am able to state, that the answers were in a 
high degree satisfactory. It appeared that a very large proportion 
of all, who are now members of the Congregational churches in 
this State, became such in consequence of revivals ; that the rela- 
tive proportion of such, as revivals have been multiplying, has 
been continually increasing ; that the most active and devoted 
Christians are among those who came into the church as fruits of 
revivals ; that those churches in which revivals have been most 
frequent and powerful are the most numerous and flourishing; 
and that in all the churches thus visited with divine influence, 
there has been a great increase of Christian enterprize, and bene- 
volent action. These results, stated by men who witnessed them 
in their own congregations, and many of whom, from long experi- 
ence and observation, had the best means of judging, should silence 
the tongue of cavil and scepticism, and excite all Christians to pray, 



APPENDIX. 59 

with warmer and holier affections, for the universal revival of 
God's work. 

Though I have extended this letter beyond what I intended, I 
feel constrained to add a few particulars as the result of what lit- 
tle experience God has been pleased to give me in revivals of reli- 
gion. 

1 . The theory of revivals is very simple. It is only the in- 
crease, and the extension to a number of sinners, at the same time, 
of that influence of the Holy Spirit, which is employed in the con- 
version of each individual sinner that is brought to repentance. 

2. I see not how any man, who believes in the doctrine of di- 
vine influence, or has ever witnessed a revival of religion, can, 
either on scriptural or rational grounds, doubt the reality or the 
decidedly happy tendency of such a work. 

3. It is pre-eminently important, that the preaching, during a 
revival of religion, should be clear, discriminating, instructive, — 
addressed to the understanding and conscience, rather than to the 
feelings and passions. 

4. It is a great error to admit converts to the church before 
time has been allowed to try the sincerity of their hope. This is 
an error into which I was betrayed during the first revival among 
my people, and it has cost me bitter repentance. And yet none 
were admitted to the church under two months after they had in- 
dulged a hope. 

5. It is of great importance, that young converts, immediately 
after conversion, should be collected into a class by themselves, 
and brought under the direct and frequent instruction of the pastor. 
I have pursued this plan for several years past, and with the hap- 
piest effect. Never are so great facilities afforded for pouring in- 
struction into the minds of young converts and forming them for a 
high standard of Christian character, as during the time that inter- 
venes between their conversion and admission to the church ; and 
if they are continued from four to six months, in a course of judi- 
cious instruction and then admitted to the church, there is very 
little danger that they will afterwards fall away, or that they will 
not continue to shine as lights in the world till the end of life. 

6. It is very important also, that young converts should early 
be trained to habits of Christian activity ; — they should be drawn 



60 APPENDIX. 

out and encouraged in the way of doing good ; and from the first, 
a deep and thorough impression should be made on their minds, that 
their great business in the world is to live and labor for Christ and 
his cause. The tone of piety and of action, which a young convert 
adopts during the first few months of his course usually goes with 
him through hfe. 

" 7. A sinner maybe converted at too great an expense. I mean, 
that measures may be adopted, that shall issue in the conversion of 
a sinner, which measures may, at the same time, by exciting pre- 
judice and enmity, be the occasion of a vast deal more evil than 
good. 

8. It should be the great aim both of ministers and Christians, 
in a time of revival, so to conduct the work, both in affectionate 
zeal, and in sound Christian wisdom and prudence, that the effect 
may be to prolong the season of mercy ; to prepare the way for a 
return of it ; and to cause all the true friends of Christ to regard 
revivals as the most precious blessings that God bestows upon a 
guilty world. 

It would be easy to enlarge, but I forbear. May the blessing of 

the God of revivals attend the volume you propose to publish with 

a view to promote them, and hasten the day when he shall pour 

his spirit upon all flesh, and fill the whole earth with his praise. 

I am, dear Brother, very truly and 

Affectionately yours, 

J. HA WES. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER VII. 

From the REVEREND JOHN M'DOWELL, D. D. 

Pastor of the first Presbyterian Church, EHzabethtowu, New-Jersey. 

Elizabethtown, March 5, 1832. 
Rev. and dear brother. 

Agreeably to your request, I will endeavor to give you a brief 
account of the revivals of religion, vrith which it has pleased a 
sovereign and gracious God to favor the church of which I am 
pastor. Of the early history of this church, I have been able to 
discover very little. It is an ancient church, having been founded 
about 160 years since. Whether it was visited with revivals, dur- 
ing nearly the former half of the period of its existence, I have not 
been able to ascertain. The first revival of which any account 
has been transmitted to us, was in the latter part of the ministry 
of that eminent servant of God, the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, au- 
thor of '^ the Five Points," and of many other valuable works. 

Of this revival, a particular and very interesting account was 
given by Mr. Dickinson, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. Foxcroft, of 
Boston, which letter is in print. From this it appears, that this 
special work visibly commenced in June 1740, under a sermon ad- 
dressed to the youth. " The inward distress and concern of the 
audience,'(Mr. Dickinson observes,) ' discovereditself by their tears, 
and by an audible sobbing and sighing in almost all parts of the as- 
sembly." On the character and effects of this revival, he goes on 
to remark — " Meetings for sinful amusements were abandoned by 
the youth ; and meetings for religious exercises substituted in their 
place. Numbers daily flocked to their pastor for advice in their 
eternal concerns. More came to see him on this errand in three 
months, than in thirty years before. The subjects of the work 
were chiefly youth. A deep sense of sin, guilt, danger, and des- 
pair of help from themselves, preceded a hope in Christ. All the 
converts were for a considerable time under a law work, before 
they had satisfying views of their interest in Christ. The number 
of those who were savingly the subjects of this work was about 
sixty." 



62 APPENDIX. 

In 1773, this church was again blessed with a considerable re- 
vival of religion, under the ministry of the Rev. James Caldwell. 

In 1784, this church was again visited in a special manner with 
the influences of the Holy Ghost. This was just after the close 
of the revolutionary war ; and the people were without a house of 
worship, and without a pastor ; the church having been burned and 
the pastor slain near the close of the war. This revival continu- 
ed about two years ; and time has abundantly proved that it was a 
genuine and glorious work of God. A number of the subjects are 
still living, and are truly fathers and mothers in Israel. Nearly 
all the session, and almost half the members of the church, when 
the writer settled here, were the fruits of this revival ; and he has 
had an opportunity of knowing them by their fruits ; he has been 
with many of them when about to pass over Jordan, and from their 
triumphant death as well as exemplary life, he can testify to the 
genuineness of the work. 

From the time of this revival to the settlement of the writer, 
there were two seasons of more than ordinary interest, when the 
number of additions to the communion of the church was conside- 
rably increased. 

The subscriber was settled as pastor of this congregation De- 
cember 1804. In August 1807, a powerful and extensive revival 
commenced. The first decisive evidence of the special presence 
and power of the Holy Spirit, was on the Sabbath, under a pow- 
erful sermon on Prayer, by the Rev. Dr. Gideon Blackburn. A 
number were awakened that day ; and new cases of conviction, 
and hopeful conversion were for a considerable time occurring at al- 
most every religious meeting. The special attention continued for 
about 18 months, and the number added to the communion of the 
church as the fruits of this gracious work, was about 120. The 
subjects of it were generally deeply exercised ; and most of them 
continued for a considerable time in a state of distress, before they 
enjoyed the comforts of the hope of the gospel. This revival was 
the first I had ever seen ; and it was a solemn situation, for a young 
man, totally inexperienced in such scenes. It was general through 
the congregation, and in a few weeks extended into neighboring 
congregations, end passed from one to another, until in the course 



APPENDIX. 63 

of the year, almost every congregation in what was then the Pres- 
bytery of Jersey, was visited. 

The next revival with which the Lord favored my ministry, vi- 
sibly commenced in December 1812. It was on a communion 
Sabbath. There was nothing peculiarly arousing in the preaching. 
I was not expecting such an event ; neither as far as I have ever 
discovered, was there any peculiar engagedness in prayer, or special 
desire or expectation on the part of christians. I saw nothing unu- 
sual in the appearance of the congregation ; and it was not until 
after the services of the day were ended, when several called in 
deep distress to ask me what they should do to be saved, that I 
knew that the Lord was specially in this place. This was a day 
of such power, (though I knew it not at the time,) that as many as 
thirty who afterwards joined the church, were then first awaken- 
ed. And it is a remarkable circumstance that the same powerful 
influence was experienced, on the same day, in both of the Presby- 
terian churches in the neighboring town of Newark. It was also 
communion season in both those churches. This revival continu- 
ed about a year ; and the number of persons added to the commun- 
ion of this church as its fruits was about one hundred and ten. — 
The subjects of this revival generally were deeply and long dis- 
tressed, and in many instances, their distress affected their bodily 
frames. Frequently sobbing aloud was heard in our meetings, and 
in some instances, there was a universal trembling, and in others a 
privation of bodily strength, so that the subjects were not able to 
get home without help. In this respect this revival was different 
from any others which I have witnessed. I never dared to speak 
against this bodily agitation, lest I should be found speaking against 
the Holy Ghost ; but I never did any thing to encourage it. It 
may be proper here to relate one case of a young man, who was 
then a graduate of one of our Colleges, and is now a very respecta- 
ble and useful minister of Christ. Near the commencement of the 
revival, he was led for the first time, reluctantly, and out of com- 
plaisance to his sisters, to a meeting in a private house. I was 
present, and spoke two or three times between prayers in which 
some of my people led. The audience was solemn ; but perfectly 
still. I commenced leading in the concluding prayer. A suppressed 
sob reached my ears — it continued and increased : I brought the pray- 



64 APPENDIX. 

er speedily to a close, and cast my eyes over the audience, when 
behold, it was this careless proud young man, who was standing 
near me, leaning on his chair sobbing, and trembling in every part 
like the Philippian jailer. He raised his eyes towards me, and then 
tottered forward, threw his arms on my shoulders, and cried out, 
" what shall I do to be saved ?" A scene ensued, the like of which 
I never witnessed. The house was full, and there was immedi- 
ately, by the power of sympathy I suppose, a universal sobbing 
through the assembly. He repeatedly begged me to pray for him. 
I felt so overcome with the solemnity of the scene, and fearful of 
the disorder which might ensue in the excited state of feeling, that 
I held this trembling young man for half an hour, without speak- 
ing a word. I then persuaded him to go home with me, and the 
audience to retire. His strength was so weakened that he had to 
be supported. From that hour he appeared to give his whole soul 
to the subject of religion. He continued in a state of deep anxiety 
and distress for nearly two months, when he settled down in a 
peaceful state of mind, hoping in the Saviour. 

About the beginning of February 1817, this church was again 
visited with a great revival of religion. It commenced most sig- 
nally, as an immediate answer to the united prayers of God's peo- 
ple. The session, impressed with a sense of the comparatively 
low state of religion among us, agreed to spend an afternoon toge- 
ther in prayer. The congregation were informed of this on the 
sabbath, and a request made that Christians would at the same 
time retire to their closets, and spend a season in prayer for the in- 
fluences of the Spirit to descend upon us. The season appointed 
was the next afternoon ; and that evening was the monthly con- 
cert of prayer, which was unusually full and solemn ; and before 
the week was out, it was manifest that the Lord was in the midst 
of us, in a very special manner. Many cases of awakening came 
to my knowledge ; and the work soon spread throughout the con- 
gregation. This revival was marked, not by the deep distress of 
the preceding ; but by a general weeping, in rehgious meetings. 
There was doubtless much of sympathy. A larger proportion than 
usual of the subjects were young, and many of them children. 
Some were long in darkness ; but most of them, much sooner than 
in either of the former revivals of my ministry, professed to have 



APPENDIX. 65 

embraced the Saviour. The number in the congregation who pro- 
fessed to be seriously impressed, amounted to several hundreds. 
The special attention continued about a year ; and the number 
added to the communion of the church during that time was about 
one hundred and eighty. It was during this revival that you vi- 
sited this place, and spent some time with us while a student in 
Princeton Seminary. 

About the close of the year 1819, it pleased a gracious God to 
grant to this church another season of special refreshing. This 
was not so general through the congregation as the former ; but 
was confined to particular neighborhoods. Christians did not ap- 
pear to be specially awake to the subject, either before it com- 
menced or during its progress. The subjects were generally from 
among the most unlikely families and characters j from the high- 
ways and hedges ; while the children of the kingdom were gene- 
rally passed by. The special attention continued about a year ; 
and the number added to the communion of the church as its fruits, 
was about sixty. 

In the early part of the year 1824, there was a considerable in- 
crease of attention to the subject of religion, which continued 
through the year 1825. About sixty were added to the com- 
munion of the church during this time, as the fruits of this special 
influence. But the work did not terminate with this ingathering. 
These were but as drops before a mighty shower. About the be- 
ginning of December 1825, the work was greatly increased. It 
commenced visibly on a day of Fasting and Prayer, appointed by 
the Synod of New- Jersey, on account of the absence of divine in- 
fluences from their churches generally. Within a few weeks many 
were awakened and brought to seek the Lord. This revival, with 
few exceptions, was not marked by deep distress, and the subjects 
of it, generally, soon professed to hope in Christ. It continued 
through the year 1826, during which time about one hundred and 
thirty were added to the communion of this church, as its fruits. 

In the winter and spring of 1829, a partial season of refreshing 

was again experienced, and about twenty-five were added to our 

communion. Again it pleased a gracious God specially to visit 

some neighborhoods of the congregation, through the winter and 

I 



66 APPENDIX. 

Spring of 1831. The fruits of this visitation, which have been 
gathered in through the year past, amount to about forty. 

In 1820, a second Presbyterian church was organized in the 
town ; and in the revivals which we have experienced since that 
congregation was formed, a similar gracious influence has been eii- 
joyed among them. 

Thus I have given you a brief statement of facts respecting 
what the Lord has done among the people of my charge. Allow 
me now to close the narrative with a few remarks. Between 
these seasons of special refreshing we have constantly had addi- 
tions to the church. As to the genuineness of the work, I have 
had time to form a judgment, especially with respect to the revi- 
vals in the earlier part of my ministry ; and I can testify that the 
subjects of them have generally manifested that they had experi- 
enced a true work of grace in their hearts. Very few apostacies 
have occurred among those who have been added to the church in 
revivals — quite as few in proportion to their numbers, as among 
those who have been brought in, when there was no special atten- 
tion ; and the former have generally been as stedfast, and adorned 
their profession quite as well as the latter. Of the subjects of the 
revivals which have occurred under my ministry, a number have 
become ministers of the gospel. In looking over the list I find 
the names of twelve who have since entered the ministry, several 
of whom are now usefully occupying important stations in the 
church, and some have gone to their gracious reward. Nine more 
are now in the different stages of education preparatory to the gos- 
pel ministry. 

Another remark I would make, is, that we have carefully guard- 
ed against a speedy admission to the privileges of the church. 
Seldom in times of revival have we admitted persons to the com- 
munion in less than six months after they first became serious. 
Again I would remark, that from what I have seen, I have drawn 
the conclusion, that it is wrong to prescribe any particular manner 
for the Spirit's operations. There has been a difference in this re- 
spect in almost every revival which I have witnessed. There 
have been diversities of operations y but time has shown that it 
was the same Spirit. The subjects of these revivals and additions 
to the church, have, the great majority of them, been in the morn- 



APPENDIX. 67 

ing of life, and many while yet children have been impressed ; but 
we have very seldom received any very young persons to com- 
munion. The means which have been constantly employed during 
my ministry, and which God has blessed, besides the preaching of 
the word on the sabbath, and frequently on other days of the week 
in different neighborhoods of the congregation, have been cate- 
chetical and bible class instruction, and family visiting; and to 
these may be added meetings for social prayer. 

In conclusion I would add, that appearances among my people 
at present are very favorable. There is much increase of atten- 
tion to the means, and of solemnity in attending upon them. 
Many Christians appear to be much quickened in duty, and to be 
earnestly praying that the Lord would appear again in his glory ia 
the midst of us to build up Zion ; and a number have recently 
been awakened to serious concern about their soul's salvation. 
We are anxiously looking for a time of general revival ; but what 
will be the result time must show. 

With sincere and fraternal respect, I am, 

Dear Sir, yours, 

JOHN M'DOWELL. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER VIII. 

From the REVEREND NOAH PORTER, D.D. 

Pastor of a Congregational church in Farmington, Connecticut. 

Farmington, March 12, 1832. 
Dear Sir, 

Revivals of religion, considered as the effects of a divine influ- 
ence prevailing throughout a whole congregation at the same time, 
have not been as frequent in this town, as in many places around 
us. In different sections of the town, at different times, they have 
not, for-a few of the last years, been unfrequent ; but often, when 
we have hoped for a general revival, we have been disappointed. 
Perhaps, this may in part be ascribed to our circumstances. About 
one half of the inhabitants belong to the central village, and the 
other half to surrounding neighborhoods, distant from the centre, 
two, three and four miles. The latter, on account of their relative 
situation, have no free and easy intercourse with the rest of the 
town ; and the former, for the last half century, have been divided, 
by adventitious circumstances into distinct classes, whose intima- 
cies have been very much confined to their respective Umits. Hence 
it has been difficult to diffuse a common sentiment and feeling, on 
almost all subjects, and on the subject of religion, as on others. 

The era of modern revivals, in this country, is reckoned, I 
beHeve, from the year 1792. In the autumn of 1793 there ap- 
peared, in this place, a spirit of unusual seriousness and inquiry, 
on the concerns of salvation. It was under the preaching of Dr. 
Griffin. He was then a licentiate ; and with all the ardor of his 
youth, together with the freshness of his " first love," he preached 
here the same system of truth, which he has continued so power- 
fully and successfully to inculcate. It was not another system 
than had been preached in this town from the time of its first or- 
ganization ; but there were certain leading topics, such as the ra- 
dical defect of the best doings of the impenitent, the duty of im- 
mediate repentance, the freeness of evangelical offers, and the natu- 
ral ability of men to accept them, and the consistency of all these 
with the purposes of God, the election of the heirs of life, and the 



APPENDIX. 69 

grace of God in their regeneration, which he presented with a 
clearness and a force that were new. There was also a simplicity, 
a vividness and an affection in his manner, which gave the truth 
access to the mind. The careless were obliged to hear, and the 
young and the ignorant could understand. What number of con- 
versions took place under his preaching I cannot say ; but the spi- 
rit of religious inquiry silently increased, and under the labors of 
Rev. Mr. Washburn, who was installed as pastor of the church 
in 1795, the influences of grace came down "as the rain upon the 
tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." The work was 
noiseless, and, in the common intercourse of life, an ordinary ob- 
server would scarcely perceive it ; but for a whole year it was ap- 
parent in the prayerfulness, union and fidelity of the church, in the 
solemnity of religious assemblies, and in the conversion of sinners. 
Fifty-five, as fruits of the revival, were admitted to the com- 
munion of the church, in the course of that year, and the succeed- 
ing one ; only two of whom have since given us any reason to 
distrust their sincerity. 

In the year 1799, there was a revival in at least fifty adjoining 
congregations in this State ; the character of which, in them all, 
was remarkably similar, and, I think I may say, remarkably hap- 
py. In some of these congregations, it commenced in the fall of 
1798. In this town it began in February 1799, and first appeared 
in the solicitude of Christians for the restored presence of God. 
Hearing of the goings of their King around them, humbled with 
the sense of their backsliding, and anxious, though not dishearten- 
ed, in view of forbidding circumstances in the state of the people, 
a number of them, after mutual consultation, solemnly agreed to 
devote themselves to renewed prayerfulness and diligence, casting 
themselves on the sovereign will of God. On the sabbath after 
their conference, the pastor addressed the congregation on the sub- 
ject of a revival, and appointed public lectures to be attended, on the 
next day and evening, at the meeting-house. At the lectures two 
neighboring ministers were present, the sermons were followed by 
plain and pungent addresses — the assemblies were large, and the 
impression was general and solemn, so that from about that time, 
the commencement of a revival was manifest. Beside the customa- 
ry services of the sabbath, a weekly lecture was delivered in the 



70 APPENDIX. 

meeting-house; a meeting for the young was held on Monday 
evenings at the house of the pastor ; and, as frequently as his 
other duties would allow, lectures were preached at the school- 
houses in the extreme neighborhoods ; all of which were attended 
fully and eagerly. Persons of both sexes, and almost every age, 
and many from a distance of four and five miles, were seen, press- 
ing through storms, and making their way over heavy roads, to 
hear the word of God ; and the house of the pastor was almost 
daily the resort of the anxious. Beside these means, and such as 
naturally resulted from the feelings of the pious, in the ordinary in- 
tercourse of life, no others were employed. No meetings were 
publicly appointed for the anxious ; — no invitation was given to 
them, or to new converts, in promiscuous assemblies, to relate 
their experience, or to address the people ; no attempts of any kind 
were made to excite feeling or move sympathy, beside a plain ex- 
hibition and a close application of the truth of God. The work 
continued in progress seven or eight months. About one hundred 
persons were considered serious inquirers, of whom about seventy 
were reckoned subjects of deep conviction, and the same number, 
including a few who dated their conversion from the preceding re- 
vival, and were now established in hope, were gathered into the 
church. These were received, at different times, from August of 
the same year, till nearly the close of the year following. With 
a few exceptions, they have adorned their profession; many of 
them have been distinguished for their intelHgence, stabihty, and 
substantial fruits of holiness. 

After this revival, for more than twenty years, conversions 
were comparatively unfrequent. There were seasons of increased 
attention to religion, and with no long intervals there were instan- 
ces of hopeful conversion; but the general tone of evangelical 
feeling gradually declined, and the whole number added to the 
church, both by letter and by original profession, but Httle exceed- 
ed two hundred, or about ten in a year — a number not equal to that 
of removals from the church, nor half the number of deaths in the 
parish. God, at the same time, rebuked our hardness of heart, by 
terrible dispensations ; commissioning a fatal epidemic to enter our 
houses, and people our grave-yards. Scarcely a family was ex- 
empt; and yet our families were generally prayerless, and our 



APPENDIX. 71 

hearts impenitent. I do not know of more than a single individu- 
al, who has ever professed to have come to repentance by means of 
the awful visitation. Our condition was the more affecting, be- 
cause the showers of mercy had refreshed most of the congrega- 
tions around us, and some of them repeatedly, while we remained, 
as the place on which there was, in the comparison, no rain. At 
the close of this period, the whole number in the church was about 
two hundred ; the greater part of these lived in the remoter neigh- 
borhoods ; and there were but few among them in younger life, 
and but few males of any age. 

The year 1821 was eminently, in Connecticut, a year of revi- 
vals. Between eighty and a hundred congregations were signally 
blessed. From the commencement of the year, a new state of 
feeling began to appear in this town. On the first sabbath in Feb- 
ruary, I stated to the assembly the tokens of the gracious presence 
of God in several places of the vicinity, and urged the duties pecu- 
liarly incumbent on us at such a season. This I had often done 
before, but not with the same effect. Professors of religion now 
began evidently to awake. They had an anxiety for themselves 
and for the people, that would allow them no rest. In their com- 
munications with each other and with the world, they were led 
spontaneously to confess their unfaithfulness, and a few without 
the church, about the same time, were pungently convicted. In 
this state of things. Rev. Mr. Nettleton made us his first visit. 
His preaching on the evening of a Lord's day, in this month, from 
Acts ii. 37, was set home by the power of the Spirit upon the 
hearts of many ; and his discourse on the Wednesday evening fol- 
lowing, from Genesis vi. 3, was blessed to the conviction of a still 
greater number. As many as fifty persons, it was afterwards as- 
certained, dated their first decided purpose of immediately seeking 
their salvation from that evening ; and it is worthy of remark, 
that the same sermon was preached on the following week to two 
other large and solemn assemblies, in adjoining parishes, with no 
special effect that could afterwards be traced. The fact probably 
was, that here it convinced numbers that the Spirit was already 
striving with them, and that then was their day. " A word spoken 
in due season, how good is it ?" At a meeting of the anxious on the 
evening of February 26, there were present about a hundred and 



72 APPENDIX. 

seventy. Here were persons of almost every age and class — 
some who, a few weeks before, had put the subject of serious piety 
at scornful distance, and others who had drowned every thought 
of religion in giddy mirth, now bending their knees together in 
supplication, or waiting in silent reflection, for a minister of the 
Gospel to pass along, and tell them, individually, what they must 
do. Twelve were found to have lately become peaceful in hope, 
and a great number to be powerfully convicted of sin. From this 
time, so rapid was the progress of the work, that at the next simi- 
lar meeting, MarchlSth, there were present a hundred and eighty, 
(the room would hold no more,) of whom fifty supposed that, 
since the commencement of the revival, they had become recon- 
ciled to God ; and, a week afterwards, I had the names of more 
than ninety, who indulged the same persuasion concerning them- 
selves. 

The state of feeling which, at this time, pervaded the town, was 
interesting beyond description. There was no commotion ; but a 
stillness, in our very streets ; a serenity in the aspect of the pious ; 
and a solemnity apparent in almost all, which forcibly impressed 
us with the conviction, that, in very deed, God was in this place. 
Public meetings, however, were not very frequent. They were 
so appointed, as to afford the opportunity for the same individuals 
to hear preaching twice a week, beside on the sabbath. Occa- 
sionally there were also meetings of an hour in the morning or at 
noon, at private dwellings, at which the serious in the neighbor- 
hood were convened, on short notice, for prayer and conference. 
The members of the church also met weekly, in convenient sec- 
tions, for prayer, and commonly on the evenings selected for the 
meetings of the anxious. From these various meetings, the peo- 
ple were accustomed to retire directly, and with little communica- 
tion together, to their respective homes. They were disposed to 
be much alone, and were spontaneously led to take the word of 
God for their guide. The Bible was preferred to all other books, 
and was searched daily and with eager inquiry. 

Mr. Nettleton continued with us, except during a few short in- 
tervals, till about the middle of April. To his labors, so far as 
human instrumentality was directly concerned, the progress of the 
revival must chiefly be ascribed. The topics on which he princi- 



APPENDIX. 73 

pally dwelt, were the unchangeable obligations of the divine law, 
the deceitful and entirely depraved character of the natural heart, 
the free and indiscriminate offers of the gospel; the reasonableness 
and necessity of immediate repentance ; the variety of those refu- 
ges and excuses to which awakened sinners are accustomed to re- 
sort ; and the manner, guilt and danger of slighting, resisting and 
opposing the operations of the Holy Spirit. His addresses were 
not formal discussions, first of one and then of another of these 
subjects, but a free declaration of the truth of God concerning 
them all, just as they lie in the course of spiritual experience, and 
would best subserve the particular end which he was laboring at 
the time to gain. They were too plain to be misunderstood, too 
fervent to be unheeded, and too searching and convincing to be 
treated with indifference. 

It was a favorable circumstance that among the first subjects of 
the work, there was a large proportion of the more wealthy and in- 
telligent class. A considerable number of youths, belonging chiefly 
to this class, had just finished a course of biblical instruction, for 
which I had met them weekly for more than a year. These, with 
scarcely an exception, at the very commencement of the revival, 
embraced the gospel which they had learned ; and by their expe- 
rience of its power, commended it to the families where they be- 
longed. Within about three months, I suppose there were two 
hundred and fifty members of the congregation, who supposed that 
they had passed from death unto life. On the first sabbath in 
June, a hundred and fourteen were added to the church ; and at 
subsequent periods, a hundred and twenty besides. Of these a few 
have since been rejected, and others have declined from their first 
love. But I have not perceived that a greater proportion of hopeful 
conversions in this revival, than in others, previous or subsequent 
to it, have proved unsound. Many have died, and many have re- 
moved from our immediate connexion, but those who remain, now 
constitute the chief strength of the church. 

In the winter of 1823, there was a revival in two contiguous 
school districts of this town. Insulated in their situation, they 
alone shared in the blessing, except a few individuals who attend- 
ed the meetings there. It commenced in the revived piety of a 
few members of the church, whom God honored as instruments of 



74 APPENDIX. 

his grace to others. Generally, when a revival has occurred 
among us, God has prepared some of his servants for the vrork, 
and their reward has been a permanent increase of their piety and 
spiritual enjoyment. By this revival, ten were joined to the 
church in the summer following. 

In the summer of 1826, three young females of this congrega- 
tion, then residing in Hartford, were made partakers of a gracious 
effusion in the school of which they were members. The first in- 
formation of this was communicated to some of their companions 
in the academy in this town, with an earnest persuasion immedi- 
ately to seek their salvation, and on the evening of the same day, 
their parents were assembled for prayer, and exhorted to be faith- 
ful to them. In these measures the teachers of the academy took 
a ready part, and immediately a revival commenced, which con- 
tinued till the end of the term ; and in which almost the whole 
school received deep impressions of divine truth. Exclusively of 
a number belonging to other congregations, who were hopefully 
converted, and including a few youths, who, though not at that 
time members of the school, shared in the blessing, twenty-five, in 
consequence, were admitted to the church, in the spring and sum- 
mer of the following year. These were chiefly females from 
twelve to sixteen years old. It was on account of their tender 
age that their admission to the chmrch was so long delayed. Some, 
in the mean time, declined a public profession of their faith ; but 
of those who joined in that profession, no one has given serious 
occasion of distrusting the sincerity of it. 

In the fall of 1828, a revival which had commenced in a neigh- 
boring congregation, extended to the eastern district of this town, 
and continued there with signal power through the winter, and a 
number of individuals in other parts of the town also were con- 
verted. There, religious meetings were more frequent, and the 
excitement was stronger, than in any other revival in which I have 
been personally concerned. As fruits of it thirty-seven were add- 
ed to the church. Several others came to the enjoyment of hope, 
some of whom have appeared to be constant followers of Christ 
while the goodness of others has been as the morning cloud. 

Early in the last year, and more immediately in consequence of 
a surprising instance of conversion in the neighborhood, a number 



APPENDIX. 75 

of the members of the church were stirred up to a new spirit of 
repentance and prayer, which was gradually extended to others in 
almost all parts of the town. In the month of April we had a 
protracted meeting of four days. The assemblies were full, and 
impressions of the truth seemed to be extensively felt ; and on the 
last day thirty or forty persons came to an avowed purpose of ear- 
nestly attending to the concerns of their salvation. Yet the im- 
pression on the minds of the people at large was not such as long 
remained, amidst the cares of the opening spring. A number, 
however, will forever remember the grace of God which crowned 
the solemnity. We have since admitted forty to the communion 
of the church, about two -thirds of whom date their conversion 
^om the revival last spring. 

It thus appears that, by these gracious visitations, during a peri- 
od of thirty-seven years, four hundred and sixty persons have 
been added to this church. Within the same period, the whole 
number added beside, only a little exceeds three hundred, and of 
these more than one hundred have come from other churches. 
Of the other two hundred, how many have dated their conversion 
from seasons of revival, it is impossible for me to say ; but that a 
very large proportion of them, have either reckoned their conver- 
sion from these seasons, or then received their first permanent im- 
pressions of divine truth, I have no doubt. In these few short 
seasons, God has done far more for us, than during all the pro- 
tracted months and years that have intervened ; and, indeed, it has 
seemed to be chiefly in these that the church has so far renewed 
her strength, as to hold forth her testimony with any degree of 
success in the intervals. But for revivals, as it seems to us, the 
church would well nigh have ceased to exist, or have lost her dis- 
tinctive character, in the spirit of the world. 

No agency was ever more decisively manifested by its effects, 
than has been the agency of the Holy Spirit, in these revivals. 
The observer who should have watched them with the minutest 
care ; who should have brought together the greatest number of 
facts ; who should have become the best acquainted with the pre- 
vious character, education and circumstances of the subjects of the 
work, and compared them with those of their connexions, who 
have had no similar experience, would have the strongest con vie- 



76 APPENDIX. 

tion. I cannot hesitate to say, that according to all correct reason- 
ing on other subjects, no adequate cause can be assigned for these 
effects, but that Avhich the Apostle Peter named, when, on the day 
of Pentecost, he said to the doubting multitude, " This Jesus being 
at the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Fa- 
ther the promise of the Holy Ghost, hath shed forth that which ye 
do see and hear." Still, in the moral, as in the natural world, God 
performs his work by wisely appointed means. Among these means, 
not the least important has been found the union of Christians, in 
distinctly and obediently seeking the blessing, confiding in the pro- 
mises of God. Our want of this, I have been led to consider a 
principal reason why the partial revivals which we have had, have 
not been more extensive. Individual Christians there have been, 
who have come up to the help of the Lord ; but often we have not 
had that common sympathy — that coming together to the work, 
which ought always, and more especially at such seasons, to cha- 
racterize a church. Meetings appointed especially for persons in 
an anxious state have also been found important, not merely on ac- 
count of the opportunity which they afford for appropriate instruc- 
tion, but as means of assisting the struggling and wavering mind, 
by a consideration of the question concerning an attendance on 
them. 

That much depends on the character of preaching in revivals, 
cannot be doubted ; and in this perhaps nothing is more important 
than a scriptural and skilful application of the doctrines of depen- 
dence on the one hand, and of obligation on the other. I have 
sometimes painfully apprehended, that but for my own indiscre- 
tion in this respect, our experience during the twenty tedious years 
that followed the revival in 1799, more than two-thirds of which 
were subsequent to my ordination, might have been different. 
Those doctrines which exhibit God as the sovereign cause, — de- 
crees, election, &c., had, for a series of years, been leading topics 
of preaching in this town ; and by means of them, many self-de- 
pendent hopes had been destroyed, many hearts of enmity against 
God unveiled, and many souls converted and saved. But many 
also remained unconverted ; and the time at length arrived, when 
this kind of preaching had produced its full effect upon them. 
They either would not listen to it, or they made it a pretext for 



APPENDIX. 77 

abandoning all serious attention to their salvation. Now, Dear Sir, 
never for a moment have I doubted the importance of an undis- 
guised declaration of the whole counsel of God, and particularly of 
those doctrines which exhibit the dependence of fallen man on the 
sovereign grace of God ; but if experience and observation have 
taught me any thing, it is, that there is a way of discussing these 
subjects most logically in the pulpit, which does little good ; that 
there are theories sometimes connected with them, which are pro- 
ductive of great evil ; and that even when preached as they lie in 
the sacred volume, if the hearers are not also taught their relations 
to God, as accountable subjects of his government, and capable 
heirs of salvation, and if the obligations and encouragements which 
belong to these relations, are not carried home to their hearts, a 
a general recklessness as to the concerns of salvation may be ex- 
pected to prevail. If they are not, in fact, made to feel that they 
are their own destroyers, that fallen, dependent and lost as they 
are, salvation is most freely and sincerely offered to them, and that 
if they perish, the blame must forever rest upon themselves ; no 
wonder if hard thoughts of God, and a heartless, discouraged and 
obdurate spirit of self-justification be the general result. That 
preaching no doubt is the best, which is most conformed to the ex- 
ample of Him who was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, 
but showed first to them at Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and 
throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that 
men should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repen- 
tance. 

I am. Dear Sir, most affectionately. 
Your fellow servant 

In the gospel of Christ, 

N. PORTER. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER IX.* 

From the late REVEREND EDWARD PAYSON, D. D. 

Pastor of a Congregational church in Portland, Maine. 

Portland, May 29, 1821. 
Dear Brother, 

I have just received the " Narrative, fee.,"! which you were so 
kind as to send me, and for which I return you many thanks. It 
was indeed highly acceptable, and I wish it was in my power to 
write something which would be equally acceptable to you. But 
I am just recovering from a long and severe illness, and am still 
too feeble to make much use of a pen ; and were I in usual health 
I could write nothing which would be of any service to you. I 
will, however, in compliance with your request, state a few facts 
relative to my ministry. 

I have been connected with this society about thirteen years. 
We have had no general revival, but there has been some religious 
attention during the whole period of my ministry. The smallest 
number which has been added to the church in any one year, is 
eighteen; the largest, eighty-four; annual average, about forty. 
I established inquiring (or, as they are called in the Narrative, 
anxious) meetings soon after I came here, and have continued 
them without interruption, (except on account of ill health for a 
few weeks,) unto the present time. We conduct them precisely 
as they are conducted with you, and have found them exceedingly 
useful. The number of inquirers has often been small, but we 
have always had some, and the number has increased or diminish- 
ed, as the church has been more or less engaged in prayer. We 
have found no means so much blessed to keep religion alive in the 
church as fasting and prayer. Ever since my settlement, the 
church has set apart one day quarterly for this purpose. On 
these occasions, our first great object is to obtain just views of our 
sins. With this view, the several beings with whom we are 

* This letter was obligingly furnished me by an esteemed clerical brother, to whom ii waa 
addressed. 

t Narrative of the extensive revival of religion which occurred about this time within the 
limits of the Albany Presbytery. 



APPENDIX. 79 

connected are mentioned ; the duties we owe to each are pointed 
out, and the inquiry, " how far have you performed these duties 
during the last three months," is pressed upon the consciences of 
all present. Every other means which we can devise to set our 
sins fully before us, and to excite deep repentance is also employ- 
ed. Then, as the Jewish high priest was directed to lay his hand 
on the head of the scape goat, and confess over it all the iniqui- 
ties of the children of Israel, so we attempt, in the exercise of 
faith, to bring all our sins to Christ, and confess them as at the 
foot of the cross, pleading that pardon may be granted and sealed 
to us afresh for his sake. We then proceed to a solemn renewal 
of our covenant with God, after which, in a number of prayers, 
we plead for all the blessings of the covenant. Days thus spent 
have been exceedingly profitable. But my weakness forbids me 
to say more. Indeed, I have written thus far rather to shew my 
readiness to comply with your request, than with a hope that any 
thing which I can write will be profitable. I rejoice in God's 
goodness to you, and should my life be spared shall be glad to hear 
from you often. 

That God may continue to bless your labors, and make you far 
more faithful than I have been, is the prayer of 
Your friend and brother, 

EDWARD PAYSON. 



LETTER X. 

From the REVEREND ALEXANDER PROUDFIT, D. D. 

Pastor of an Associate Reformed church in Salem, New-York. 

Salem, April 4, 1832. 
My Esteemed Friend, 

I received your letter, and agreeably to your request, venture to 
communicate my views on the nature of revivals of religion — a 
subject which so deeply involves the peace and prosperity of the 
American churches. 

This is the thirty-eighth year of my ministerial labors in Salem. 
We have uniformly been in the habit of dispensing the ordinance 
of the Supper four times in the year, and so far as I recollect, have 
never had a sacramental occasion without some accession to our 
numbers. But during this long period we have enjoyed, at diffe- 
rent intervals, what would now be pronounced *' a revival of reli- 
gion." The refreshing influences of divine grace descended si- 
lently and softly upon the heritage of the Lord, like the showers 
of spring after the dreariness and barrenness of winter. A genial 
warmth appeared to pervade the whole church, to the joy of the 
generation of the righteous, and at the same time, multitudes were 
added to the Lord by an external profession of his name. One of 
these occasions occurred in the year 1796, when a very unusual 
influence apparently accompanied the outward dispensation of the 
word, sealing it upon the souls both of sinners and saints. A similar 
season occurred about six years afterwards ; and another and still 
more memorable visitation of the Spirit was enjoyed in the year 
1815. During all these seasons of enlargement to myself, and of 
spiritual joy to the children of adoption, under my immediate care, 
and of the " espousals of others to Jesus as their husband," no extra 
efforts were used ; no brethren from other towns were called in to 
our aid, but the work advanced silently and regularly, promoted 
exclusively under the divine blessing by the ordinary administra- 
tion of ordinances, private and public. Yet, during the whole 
course of my ministry, I have never been favored with seasons 
more delightful in their recollection ; none the results of which I 



APPENDIX. 81 

anticipate with more joy in that day when the final account of my 
stewardship will be required. Contemplated in a moral or spirit- 
ual light, the work on those occasions might be compared to that 
gradual yet perceptible reanimation, which pervades the vegetable 
world amidst the vernal showers, and the refreshing influences of 
the returning sun, when the face of nature is clothed with fresh 
verdure, and the trees which had stood barren, are adorned with 
blossoms and fruit. These might emphatically be called " times 
of refreshing from the presence of the Lord ;" and yet I know of no 
particular cause, except on the last occasion, the revival of the 
Lord's work appeared to come as an answer to extraordinary im- 
portunity in prayer. Few churches during this period, perhaps, 
have been more honored for raising up young men to adorn the 
ministerial office ; — men full of the " Holy Ghost and of faith,'' 
who now appear as ** burning and shining lights" in various parts 
of our country. On one occasion in the autumn of 1815, six 
youths took their seats together at the sacramental table, who are 
now exercising the ministry of reconciliation, and some of them 
with more than ordinary success. These facts I feel constrained 
particularly to notice, for the purpose of correcting that novel and 
prevailing opinion, that religion cannot flourish without some spe- 
cial and unusual eflbrt. 

In the year 1824, a revival of a different character from those 
I have already mentioned, appeared. Several persons residing in 
different parts of our town, were suddenly and almost simultane- 
ously struck with deep convictions of sin. This arrested the at- 
tention of the friends of religion ; meetings for prayer and confer- 
ence were held almost every day in the week, and generally 
crowded to overflowing. These meetings were usually attended 
by the Rev. Mr. Tomb or myself, with private members of the 
church, who assisted in the religious services : ministers and pri- 
vate Christians from other towns were called in, and afforded their 
aid. So far as I recollect, there was rarely any instance of disor- 
der, although I have seen multitudes melted in tears, and during 
the year great numbers were added to the fellowship of the two 
churches. 

In May 1831, during my absence, a protracted meeting, as it is 
generally termed, was held in Mr. Tomb's society, which was at- 

K 



82 APPENDIX. 

tended by a variety of ministers from different parts of the coun- 
try. A great excitement was produced in almost every part of 
the town, which has resulted in the addition of a large number to 
our churches. 

With respect to the fruits of these revivals, on which you de- 
sire information, I have almost uniformly remarked that where the 
subjects had been early and competently instructed, the impres- 
sions have been permanent : those of this character who assumed 
the profession of religion have been enabled to persevere ; but in 
other instances the excitement has too often been transient as " the 
morning cloud and the early dew :" the latter class, like those in 
the parable of the sower, I have frequently seen receive the word 
with joy, but not having root in themselves, endured for a time, 
and afterwards returned to the world. From these facts, founded 
on long observation, I have been particularly impressed with the 
importance of early instruction. I feel more strongly attached to 
the good old way trodden by the venerable fathers of the Reforma- 
tion in Scotland, and Holland, and England, and afterwards by our 
Pilgrim fathers, who brought the " light of immortality and life" 
to our western wilderness. With them the instruction of youth in 
the elementary doctrines of religion, by catechising and family 
visitation, constituted an important part of ministerial labor. It 
cannot be uninteresting to your readers, nor foreign from the na- 
ture of your publication, to incorporate the sentiments of the re- 
vered Flavel, in a sermon which he preached to the Puritans after 
their restoration in 1688. " Prudence," he remarks, " will direct 
us to lay a good foundation among our people by catechising, and 
instructing them in the principles of Christianity, without which 
we labor in vain. Unless we have a knowing people, we are not 
like to have a gracious people. All our excellent sermons will 
be dashed on the rock of their ignorance. You can never fall on 
a better way for securing success to your labors, than the fruitful 
way of catechising. What age of the church has produced more 
lively and steadfast professors than the first ages ; and then this 
duty most eminently flourished in the church. Clemens, Optatus, 
Austin, Ambrose and Basi], were catechists." Such were the 
sentiments of this distinguished servant of Christ, dehvered on a 
most memorable occasion, and before an assembly of divines little 



APPENDIX. 83 

inferior to any that ever adorned our world. With these observa- 
tions of Flavel in Old^ let us compare those of Doctor Mather, a 
character equally eminent in New, England — " That catechising is 
an ordinance of God few will doubt, when they consider that 
apostles thus laid the foundation of religion by feeding babes with 
milk, teaching them in this manner the first principles of the ora- 
cles of God. This hath therefore been a constant practice in the 
church, and in the first ages of Christianity they had a particular 
person appropriated to this exercise. All well governed churches 
have still maintained this practice, knowing the necessity of it for 
youth, to inform them in the principles of that religion into which 
they were baptized, and for the establishment of the more aged." 
With these sentiments of the Puritans in the old and new world , 
correspond the following remarks of the Presbyterians in Scotland, 
as expressed in a preface to the Shorter Catechism : 'Ht has been 
acknowledged in all ages that the catechetical way of instruction is 
the most speedy and successful method of conveying the know- 
ledge of divine things : the truths of God are thus made level to 
the weakest capacity, being separately proposed with plain and 
distinct answers to each." 

We cannot appreciate too highly the establishment of sabbath 
schools and bible classes. They may be considered as constituting 
some of the brightest features of our distinguished age, and form- 
ing a new era in the religious world. Through the instrumentali- 
ty of the former, many have been raised from the lowest degrada- 
tion, mental and moral, who are now ornaments to the church ; 
and by means of the latter the seed has been sown in ten thousand 
youthful hearts, which will spring up to life eternal : yet in con- 
nexion with these I wish to see revived that system of catecheti- 
cal instruction, which prevailed so extensively among your ances- 
tors in England, and mine in Scotland. I wish to see means every 
where in operation which shall secure to the juvenile mind pro- 
found instruction in the doctrines of religion. No period since the 
Apostolic has been adorned with a generation of professors more in-- 
telligent and stedfast, than during the administrations of Owen, and 
Flavel, and Baxter, and Boston, and the Erskines; and at that 
time, catechising in the week was considered scarcely less essential 
to the " fulfilment of the ministry," than preaching on the sabbath. 



84 APPENDIX. 

A comparison of those who composed the ranks of the spiritual 
soldiery in their day, with those who compose them in the pre- 
sent, would certainly, in many respects, be much to our disadvan- 
tage. Nevertheless, there are many of our modern converts 
doubting even the piety of some of those illustrious men, although 
during their lives they shed around them the lustre of every 
Christian grace, and died in the triumphs of faith, and some of 
them martyrs to the truth. With mingled emotions of surprise 
and sorrow, I have heard some in the ministry who claim to be 
distinguished for zeal and spirituality, affecting to represent as life- 
less and even graceless, many of the clergy of that age, who oc- 
cupied their talents in the illustration of divine truth, and 
*' preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from Hea- 
ven," and clad in the panoply of God, drove the enemy from the 
field. I do not pretend that these men were perfect, or that the 
progress of things in coming ages might not require that with their 
studious habits there should be joined an increased degree of active 
enterprize ; but I do say that if those who regard them so lightly 
would consent to stand up with them in a comparison as it re- 
spects solid attainments in literature and theology, and holy hero- 
ism in their Master's cause, it would be like bringing the shrub 
beside the cedar, or the infant beside the full grown man. 

With respect to extra or protracted meetings, which are becom- 
ing so common in our country, I entertain no doubt that they have 
been blessed for the conversion of souls to the Saviour. Many, I 
believe, are sealed on these occasions to the day of redemption, 
and as gems will adorn forever the Mediatorial crown of our Mas- 
ter ; yet I think, considering the extent to which they are now 
multiplied, there are connected with them serious and obvious dis- 
advantages. They serve too often to derange the regular order of 
the church ; to cherish a gossipping disposition on the part of pro- 
fessors, and render them dissatisfied with the ordinances of grace, 
unless dispensed in an extraordinary manner. They interfere 
with those duties which ministers owe to their immediate charge ; 
they leave them little time for digesting their discourses in private, 
that they may afterwards give to every man a portion of meat in 
due season ; — little leisure for the improvement of their ministe- 
rial gifts, by reading and reflection, and conversation ; and what- 



APPENDIX. 85 

ever diverts the attention of the spiritual steward from a course of 
study, although it may promise immediate advantage, must, in the 
issue, militate essentially against the interests of religion. There 
is no injunction of the great Apostle more imperative than the fol- 
lowing : — " Give attendance to reading ; neglect not the gift that 
is in thee ; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may ap- 
pear unto all." Without suitable preparation in the week, no un- 
inspired man ever did, or can preach the gospel for any considera- 
ble time to the same people, either with acceptance or success ; 
and he cannot make this preparation without suitable opportunity. 
Did he possess the intellectual resources of an angel, they must be 
exhausted by continual expenditure, unless they are replenished 
by painful and laborious application to study. The present, per- 
haps, more than almost any preceding age, calls for active exertion 
on the part of the clergy. Our Tract, and Missionary, and Bible 
and other kindred societies are probably the means by which the 
gospel is universally to be diffused, and the nations converted to the 
Saviour ; and in the support of these and every other benevolent 
enterprize, the ministers of religion ought always to appear promi- 
nent. It is, however, incumbent upon us to persevere, as much 
as possible, in habits of study, and thus improve those spiritual 
gifts which are requisite for the profitable discharge of our mi- 
nistry. 

But the great, shall I say the fatal error in the management of 
revivals, is the hasty admission of the subjects to the privileges of 
the church. Convictions, we have reason to apprehend, are often 
mistaken for conversion ; — a momentary impulse for '' the renew- 
ing of the Holy Ghost," without which no man can see the Lord. 
Under the influence of this excitement, application is made for the 
seals of the covenant ; and when an unregenerate man obtains a 
name in the visible church, his condition may be considered as al- 
most desperate : he feels entrenched in his profession, and without 
a moral miracle, is invulnerable : there is more hope of reaching 
with the arrow of conviction, the conscience of the '' harlot or the 
publican," than the conscience of the formal professor. There is 
an analogy in all the works of Jehovah, and the incorruptible seed, 
like the natural, requires time to vegetate in the soil, before it can 
be expected to spring up, and present *<the blade and the ear." 



86 APPENDIX. 

Having taken this deliberate survey of the subject presented for 
consideration, and noted some points of difference betvreen the past 
and the present, I am constrained to express my conviction, that 
however much we have to be grateful for in the present state of 
the church, there is much that needs to be corrected ; and that 
even pure revivals of religion vrould be far more prevalent, if w^e 
were willing, in some respects at least, to walk more closely in the 
footsteps of our revered fathers. Let the true doctrines of the 
gospel be held up with great prominence ; and let the minds of 
the young, by catechetical instruction and private visitation, be im- 
bued with the knowledge of God's word ; and our spiritual herit- 
age, under the dews of divine grace, would appear " fair as Eden," 
and the trees of righteousness would present in due season their 
fragrant blossoms and ripening fruits. But when I see the wan- 
ton, visionary speculations indulged by some, to the neglect of a 
religion founded on the Bible, and the open dereliction and even 
renunciation of their standards by others, who had solemnly sub- 
scribed and sworn to defend them ; when I see these appalling 
facts, I cannot help trembling for the Ark. May the God of our 
fathers disappoint our fears, and purify our American Zion, and fill 
the earth with his glory. 

Yours in the Saviour's love, 

ALEXANDER PROUDFIT. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XI. 

From the REVEREND CHARLES P. McILVAINE, 

Rector of St. Anno's church, Brooklyn, New- York. 

Brooklyn, April 6, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

I was much pleased to hear of your intention to publish on the 
subject of the Revivals of religion in this country ; believing that 
there is not another on vs^hich a well digested, discreet, intelligent 
and spiritually-minded work is, at this period, so much needed. 
We need it at home — it is earnestly desired abroad. When I was 
in London, about eighteen months since, among sundry earnest in- 
quiries, as well from ministers of the established church, as those 
of dissenting denominations, requesting direction as to some publi- 
cation to inform them accurately in respect to the nature, means 
and fruits of revivals of religion among us ; I recollect a conversa- 
tion with the Rev. Josiah Pratt, (well known as author of the 
Memoir, and editor of the works of the excellent Cecil,) in which, 
after expressing a strong desire that Christians in England should 
know more on this subject, he twice, and with much solemnity of 
manner, enjoined it upon me that I should endeavor to prepare a 
work in regard to it, and send it to England for publication. I 
rejoice that the undertaking has fallen into hands so much more 
qualified, in every sense, to do it justice. I pray, and doubtless 
you have made it a matter of much prayer, that all you write may 
be according to the mind of Christ, and under the sanctification of 
the Holy Spirit, so as to be " profitable for doctrine, reproof, cor- 
rection and instruction in righteousness." 

I understand you as requesting of me a brief expression of such 
hints in relation to revivals, as my experience in them may have 
suggested, and my time will permit me to write. This I will at- 
tempt most cheerfully ; but must perform it with the strictest con- 
finement of my pen to the mere giving of hints. 

My experience of revivals has not been so extensive as that of 
many others; but it has been, more than that of many others, 
among young men of education and force of character- It has 



88 APPENDIX. 

been my lot to witness the power of the Spirit in circumstances 
pecuharly unpropitious ; overcoming obstacles of the most formi- 
dable kind, and effecting, in spite of them, conversions of a nature 
specially distinguished by the decision, force and consistency of 
Christian character which they have since exhibited. But I have 
not time for preliminaries. 

As to what a revival of religion is, and what its great objects 
ought to be — I would suggest that the public mind (I mean of 
Christians,) is in danger of overlooking, or only slightly regarding 
one out of the two great constituents and blessings of a genuine 
revival. One of these is the conversion of sinners. But it is not 
the only object; though too much treated as if it were. The 
other is the quickening of the people of God to a spirit arid walk 
becoming the Gospel. Where this is not sought and obtained, the 
revival is more than suspicious. But I fear that, where it is 
sought, it is sometimes desired much more as a necessary means 
to the accomplishment of the other, than as a most important end 
in itself, which alone is unspeakably precious, and must be produc- 
tive of all good fruits. If the quickening of the souls of God's 
people to liveliness of life be regarded rather as a means to the 
bringing about of a resurrection among the dead in sins, than as a 
great end in itself; the consequence will be, as experience proves, 
that their increase of life will be confined very much to those ef- 
forts which bring them before the view, and into direct operation 
on the feelings of the impenitent, such as the leading and attending 
of public and other meetings for prayer and exhortation, instead 
of being, first and last, an improvement of their hearts in all the 
inward things of the Spirit of God, elevating, purifying, adorning, 
invigorating the whole Christian character. 

As to the means of obtaining a revival of religion in a congrega- 
tion — I need not say that the faithful, plain, direct preaching of 
the truth is one of these means. But is there not danger of putting 
reliance on this or that mode of saying things ; this or that selection 
of topics or management of an address, because in some places, or 
in the hands of some men they are supposed to have been very 
successful, when at best they may be peculiarly suitable only in 
peculiar cases, or when used by peculiar persons ? Is there not 
danger of our getting to rely on a Paul or ApoUos, and supposing 



APPENDIX. 89 

that a revival can hardly take place and flourish unless they, or 
some persons very much like them, in manner, are at the head of 
the effort ? Would not such a reliance be altogether inconsistent 
with a simple dependence upon the sword of the Spirit, and the 
demonstration of the Spirit, as placed at the disposal of every mi- 
nister of the w^ord who will know nothing among men but Jesus 
Christ and him crucified ? Do we not need to think and feel much 
more of this truthj that the power of preaching is not to be im- 
proved so much by seeking out new and more striking modes and 
expressions, as by combining our discourses with more prayer in 
their preparation, and more faith in the power of God while deli- 
vering them ? 

I need not urge that combined and earnest prayer is another 
of the means of obtaining a revival. But it is needful to urge that 
there is a tendency to make this too exclusively a matter of the 
jprajer-meeting, and that in the prayer- meeting, there is a prone- 
ness to pray an address to the people, more than to God, seeking 
more to produce an effect than to obtain an answer. The chief 
power of prayer for a revival of the work of God must be sought 
where effect cannot tempt, and where genuine revivals always be- 
gin, — in the closet. Let people be assembled for prayer ; but let 
the chief concert be the daily union of hearts, each in secret, wrest- 
ling with God. 

But there is another important means of having religion revived. 
Some legitimate, sober effort to create a general disposition to at- 
tend to the word, is very important. One great reason why the 
word is not more blessed lies in the fact that it is so little heard — 
not only among those who do not assemble where it is preached, 
but those also, even professors of religion, who sit beneath its 
sound. We need something to open the ears of those who come 
to hear, and to congregate those who are too indifferent to come. 
Much depends on this. But here is where experience utters its 
most serious cautions. It is in the council of the Sons of God, 
upon such measures, that Satan puts on the dress of light, and too 
often gets himself appointed on " the committee of ways and 
means." There are means to be used, in awakening a disposition 
to come and see and hear, which truth and soberness, scripture and 
good sense fully warrant. These I doubt not you have discussed. 

L 



90 APPENDIX. 

But how easily may zeal, having a little more excitement than 
discretion and conscience, overstep the bounds of sobriety and 
truth, and not only revive intemperance instead of piety, but bring 
back the old contrivances of ^^ pious frauds.'''' I think there is 
hardly any matter connected with revivals that needs more guard- 
ing than this. Great scandal has been raised by indiscretion, and 
what I cannot call by any lighter name than fraud on the part of 
some seekers of a revival. The agency of the Holy Spirit as the 
beginning and ending has been almost or entirely set aside. A re- 
vival has been represented and sought for as an article of manu- 
facture for which you have only to set the machinery and raise the 
steam of excitement, caring little with what fuel, and converts 
will be made to hand. Artifices to catch attention ; devices to en- 
trap the careless ; representations to create impression ; an exag- 
gerated style of preaching to produce alarm ; to shake suspicious 
hopes and raise a state of general excitement, no matter of what 
kind, so that it brings people to hear, have in some cases been 
put into requisition, over which truth, and reverence, and humility, 
and faith must weep, and which have done more to injure revivals 
in certain places, than all the direct opposition of coldness and un- 
belief. When the world and slumbering Christians see these 
things, it is not strange that they should speak against revivals. 
Blessed be God, these things are not characteristic of revivals of 
religion, but only of some minds associated with the name. In 
the great majority of what have been called by this name, they 
have not appeared, or have been only very partial exceptions to 
the general rule. But in proportion as a revival-spirit shall spread 
in the churches, will the danger of these mischiefs increase. The 
very excellence of the cause will be its exposure to the abuse of 
unbalanced zeal and to the devices of Satan. There was a great 
work in Samaria, under the preaching of Philip. Simon Magus 
was a spurious convert of that revival. He turned in with the 
heart of a sorcerer, under the face of a Christian, and wanted to 
help the work by imitating the wonders of the Apostles. But he 
thought the gift of God could be purchased with money. He 
wanted to bewitch the people, instead of enlightening them. He 
supposed the Apostles had some magic secret in communicating the 
Holy Ghost, which perhaps they might be induced to reveal, so 



APPENDIX. 91 

as to enable him to go about and do great things as well as they. 
Is this character never seen among genuine revivals of the present 
day ? I fear Satan still finds those who give themselves out to be 
some great ones ; and who, passing by the great truth that it is 
the Spirit who is to convince of sin and of righteousness and of 
judgment, attempt the work of a revival as if there were a magic 
secret in certain modes and artifices, and expect to change stub- 
born hearts by bewitching weak heads. No. The Apostles had 
no device but that of plain truth, and strong faith, and humble bold- 
ness, and fervent love. Let us be content with these. Let it be 
written of us as of them — '^ We believe^ and therefore speak.'''' 
Our weapons will be " mighty through God," only in proportion 
as they are ^' not carnal hut spiritual.'''' Let us get the ear of sin- 
ners by the zeal of truth and soberness, and then fill it with Jesus 
Christ and him crucified. 

And now supposing a general revival is in progress, and much 
interest prevails in the community, and inquirers come in and 
some profess to have obtained the hope of faith — let me suggest 
that it is not sufficiently remembered that a time of great blessing 
is also a time of great exposure. When an individual Christian is 
on the mount, we think him specially in need of caution, lest he 
be lifted up above measure. Paul needed a thorn to keep him 
humble, after his abundant manifestations. Thus a church re- 
vived, and rejoicing, and full of zeal, must take especial heed, lest 
the sails be too much for the ballast, and while the hands are all 
ahead delighting their eyes with the power of her advance, the 
spirit of evil should get up behind and take the helm, and secretly 
substitute another needle than that of the truth as it is in Jesus. 

A time of revival is necessarily to some extent, a time of excite- 
ment. But excitement is of two kinds. One is that of the soul 
receiving nourishment from the meat of the word, which quickens 
its affections, strengthens its desires after holiness, and promotes a 
healthy state of spiritual life. This is the genuine excitement of 
a revival of religion. But there is another resembling it very de- 
ceitfully in colour and temporary sensation, but differing from it 
very widely in permanent consequences. It is the fever of the 
mind, to which human nature is exceedingly prone. Some of it 
is probably unavoidable in revivals, because revivals have to do 



93 APPENDIX. 

with a diseased nature ; as powerful medicines, while working to- 
gether for the good of the body, produce a feverish excitement, 
not by their own fault, but the morbid condition of the patient. 
But how unwisely would a physician act, should he mistake the 
hectic of the fever for the glow of health, and endeavor to increase 
it because accompanied with warmth and apparent strength ! De- 
lirium and prostration would ensue. This is precisely the mis- 
take not unfrequently made by friends of revivals. It is extreme- 
ly dangerous. They mistake disease for health. They seek ex- 
citement. It is well. The dead heart must be excited. But let 
them be cautious. There is an excitement which, like that of 
electricity upon a corpse, will open the ej^es, but they will not 
see ; stir the heart, but it will not love ; throw the whole body 
into violent action, only to remain when the machinery is with- 
drawn, a more melancholy spectacle of death than before. Ex- 
citement that does not proceed from the influence of truth on the 
heart, and lead towards the obedience of truth in the life, is the 
fever of a diseased soul, and not the evidence of increasing life. 
To stimulate this is as much to hinder grace, as if you should at- 
tempt to make a dying man well, by filling him with alcohol. 
The fever may look and act exceedingly like healthy religion — 
but it will either mount at last to wild derangement, or pass off 
and leave the subjects more perfectly prostrate and helpless than 
ever. I conceive that clear conceptions of the nature and genuine 
means of real, spiritual excitement, as distinguished from every 
counterfeit, are much needed, in order that revivals may be pro- 
tected against the weakness of the flesh, and the forgeries of Satan. 
Now let me again suppose a revival in progress. In conse- 
quence of the ignorance, inexperience, sinfulness, indiscretion of 
the promiscuous mass of minds and hearts concerned in it, we 
must expect more or less of diseased excitement, though the work 
be full of holy fruits. The labor of the minister is to protect the 
good work, as much as possible, from abuses to which it is liable 
from this cause. Let me therefore suggest that a season of revi- 
val is one in which special care should be had in the regular keep- 
ing up of all the rules of the church. Old modes of doing things are 
apt to seem worn out, and decrepid, and dry, to minds under new 
excitement. A sudden flood in the river not unfrequently opens 



APPENDIX. 93 

new channels, but never without desolation. Let the springs of 
the river of life be revived and swollen with the rains of heaven ; 
but that the streams thereof may make glad the city of God, let 
them be kept within the banks which the ordinances of the gospel 
have established, and the wisdom of all ages has been content with. 
Let the novelty consist in newness of life, in an unwonted spirit of 
prayer, and faith, and love, rather than in new devices and novel 
modes. 

How far should meetings he multiplied during a revival ? — This 
question must be answered according to circumstances, but in- 
quires much wisdom. The appetite of excitement is for meetings. 
The tendency of an animated minister is to feed it with meetings. 
How far may he go ? Not beyond his own strength in their vigi- 
lant superintendence. He must have meetings enough to be able 
to meet and feed the people with as much bread as they can pro- 
fitably receive ; but the dangers to be guarded against are in the 
idea that the love of meetings is religion ; that the chief element 
and nutriment of religion in the heart is the influence of meetings ; 
that the frequent renewal of their excitements may be substituted 
for habitual watchfulness and diligence ; that secret devotion and 
the study of the word are of comparatively little importance ; that 
when circumstances require an abridgment of the number of the 
meetings, the revival is done, a season of coldness must ensue, and 
the people may be content to wait in sloth and exhaustion till the 
next season of the outpouring of the Spirit. Whoever has seen 
much of man and of revivals, must know that on these points, 
much wisdom and much firmness are required. 

Who shall officiate in the meetings ? — Some seem to imagine 
that any body with a warm heart will do to speak and pray in pub- 
lic during a season of revival. On the contrary, it is just the time 
when the work of exhortation and leading in meetings for prayer 
should be confined to the steadiest heads. A raw hand may steer 
the ship with a gentle, fair breeze, in open sea ; but when the 
wind is high, and the channel narrow, and false lights abound, and 
new lights are ever appearing, let experience alone be entrusted 
with the helm. Many of the abuses of revivals have arisen from 
a multiplication of meetings beyond the ability of the minister and 
his most experienced assistants to superintend them ; so as to call 



94 



APPENDIX. 



Up persons having more zeal than knowledge to the lead, some- 
times to the misguiding of the young, and the indiscreet offending 
of many. 

How should inquirers he treated ? — With light as well as heat ; 
with instruction as to the way ; its cost ; its temptations, &c., as 
well as exhortation to walk therein. Bunyan put the wicket gate 
too far off, and made a Slough of Despond too directly in the road. 
Many do worse, saying nothing of any difficulties to be avoided, 
and leaving out the entire dependence of the sinner on the Spirit 
of God to be able to reach the straight gate. 

Let care be used as to who shall he put to the work of conversing 
with inquirers. Every Christian is not fit for this work in a time 
of excitement. Especially new converts are not fit. They have 
not learned sufficiently to separate the wheat from the chaff. 
They often confound feelings with affections ; fears with desires ; 
and require an experience like their own, rather than like the rule 
of the word. They are apt to " compare themselves among them- 
selves," and encourage too soon, or expect too much ; so that 
sometimes they break the bruised reed and quench the smoking 
flax. 

Inquiry meetings have, I believe, been much perverted from 
their original object. The great use of an inquiry meeting is to 
enable the minister to converse with those whom it would be bet- 
ter to see more privately, but who are too numerous to allow his 
seeing all of them often enough at their separate houses. It 
should be strictly an opportunity for him to inquire of them, and 
they of him. But this important object is often nullified, and the 
meeting rendered an entire misnomer, in consequence of numbers. 
It is so large that to make any real inquiry into each case is im- 
possible, unless many agents are employed, and then a painful and 
deleterious publicity is given to the inquiry and the answer. An 
inquiry meeting should be a retired meeting, involving as little 
exposure to others beside the conductor, and as little profession of 
religion as the object may allow ; if the number desiring to attend 
be greater than can be profitably and individually conversed with, 
there should be more meetings than one. The object should be 
to get as much as possible of the individuality of a quiet confer- 
ence from house to house, and yet effect an important saving of 



APPENDIX. 95 

time and strength. I much fear that instead of this, there have 
been meetings under this name, in which inquiry was a very se- 
condary matter on the part of the conductors, and the fanning of 
excitement and the inducing of those who felt a little, to commit 
themselves, in other words, to make some profession, were the en- 
grossing objects. 

I have dreaded much from perceiving an inordinate disposition 
in some friends of revivals to get inquirers to " entertain a hope,^"^ 
as if hope were always the offspring of a living faith. New minds 
very naturally acquire the idea that if they can only get comfort 
they shall do well. They thirst for hope more than holiness. 
The work seems done when consolation begins. By and by when 
tribulation ariseth, they are offended. The phraseology of revi- 
vals needs reform. The tendency of much of it at present is to 
set the sinner to seeking hope and joy rather than faith and love. 
Deliberation with hearts which by nature are " deceitful above all 
things," is of great moment at all times, and especially in a sea- 
son when, however good the work, Satan finds so many means of 
producing hurry, and confusion, and presumptuous hope. 

Is there not much evil to be apprehended from the plan of hav- 
ing a meeting restricted to those " who have obtai7ied a hope^^ — . 
another for inquirers merely, so that as soon as one of the latter 
expresses a hope that he has found peace, he is passed into the 
company of the former, and is thenceforth numbered with those 
who profess to be in Christ ? Does not the commonest acquain- 
tance with human nature ; the well known infirmity of the infant 
state of a new convert, and all experience warn us that by such 
measures we are tempting the weakness of incipient seriousness to 
seek a hope for other motives, and cherish it on other grounds, 
than those of the Spirit of God ? The inquiry meeting is very na- 
turally regarded as the lowest degree — the other a second and 
more honorable. ^ hope will elevate the candidate from the no- 
vitiate to the grade of the initiated. Vanity and love of distinc- 
tion are not dead in the hearts of inquirers. How insidiously and 
easily may they animate the candidate to think well of his evi- 
dences and blind his eyes to their suspicious aspects, that he may 
be said to entertain a hope, and may be introduced among those 
who are rejoiced over as converts rejoicing in Christ. That hope 



96 APPENDIX. 

is often helped exceedingly by this address to human weakness, 
there is great reason to fear. But let it be considered that when 
an inquirer is thus passed into the company of those who profess a 
hope of salvation ; or when he is induced to stand up in a more 
promiscuous assembly, as having found peace through faith, it is 
on his part a public profession of religion ; those who encourage 
him to do so are regarded as having set their seal to his evidences 
and pronounced them good. It is nothing to say that he has not 
yet approached the Lord's supper. There is more than one way 
of making a public profession of religion. Christians and the 
world consider the individual described as having openly called 
himself a Christian. But is it not too soon for such a profession ? 
Has he had sufficient time ; has he obtained sufficient knowledge 
to search and try his heart ? Is not the consideration that he is re- 
garded as having publicly professed a hope, a dangerous motive to 
go on in hope without that cautious self-examination which the 
newness of his spiritual state demands ? Is it not thus that too 
many, after having crossed the line of profession, and feeling them- 
selves committed to the entertaining of hope, continue crying 
peace^ peace, after every thing but the form of godliness, and the 
melancholy features of spiritual pride, has passed away ? But do 
we not bring the cause of rehgion and the character of revivals 
into great disrepute by such measures ? When a number of newly 
awakened persons rise up in a public assembly, or appear in a 
special meeting as professing a hope of being in Christ, they are 
noted as professors of religion by the world. We can neither cor- 
rect the view taken by worldly people of this public appearance, 
nor find fault with it. But can it be expected that some of these, 
so new, so untried, will not fall back ? Are we prepared to set them 
out before the world as converts to whose stedfastness we chal- 
lenge the attention of the ungodly ? On the contrary, we expect 
that some, by and by, will be offended and go back, before they 
shall have come to a meetness for the supper of the Lord. But 
when this takes place, it is necessarily regarded as the backsliding, 
not of inquirers — not of persons merely under serious impressions ; | 

(we cannot expect the world to distinguish carefully between a | 

profession of serious concern about religion and of religion itself) 
but as the backsliding of persons who have once called themselves 



APPENDIX. 97 

Christians, and on whom the judgment of experienced Christians 
did once set the seal of deliberate approbation. Thus '* it is im- 
possible but that offences come." But let us take heed by whom 
or how they come. Some publicity to the fact that an inquirer has 
been enabled to hope in Christ is unavoidable ; when Judiciously 
managed, it is useful ; but the individual should not be the instru- 
ment of making his spiritual state a matter of publicity, and should 
have his mind as free as possible from the idea that he is in any 
sense before the community, until he has had time to get some- 
what beyond the extreme delicacy of a babe in Christ. Religion, 
in a sinner's heart, is like a tropical plant amidst the snows of Sibe- 
ria. Great protection and tenderness, and a cautious attention to 
cherishing temperature are of the last importance, till it is accli- 
mated. It may remain, but not grow. It may shoot out a sudden 
growth of half formed leaves, while dying at the root. 

These remarks apply with more force to the dangerous practice 
(I hope very Hmited in extent) of encouraging those who profess 
conversion, to come forward, almost immediately, to the table of 
the Lord. The ambition of numbering the people ; the desire of 
an exciting spectacle may adopt this plan. Shallow views of re- 
ligion and of human nature may approve of it. Satan will sub- 
scribe to its wisdom in the signature of an angel of light. The 
winnowing of the last day will show that a large portion of such 
ingatherings was fit only to be cast into the fire, to be burned. 

I have already written so much more than I anticipated, when 
I began, that I have no room to dwell upon two points of great 
interest in themselves, and rendered specially so by the present 
times. One is the measure of prominence and work that may safe- 
ly and usefully be given to new converts. The other is the neces- 
sity of seeing to them vigilantly, " reproving, rebuking, exhorting 
them,^^ while as yet they are new, inexperienced and self-ignorant. 
As to the first, wisdom is greatly needed. We ought not to take 
a green sapling and set it up for a pillar in the church. The 
weight would bend it down and make its branches grow into the 
earth. We ought not to take a new recruit, untried, undisciplined, 
however zealous and brave, and set him to drill a company, or 
lead the advance, when skill and coolness, as well as enthusiasm 
and courage, are the order of the day. By such measures we 

M 



98 APPENDIX. 

may engender much boldness with great indiscretion, and show 
an undaunted front with a flank exposed to all the fiery darts of 
the wicked. How to give the new convert enough exercise for 
his own health and growth without taking him too much from him- 
self, laying too much upon his weakness and exposing him too 
much to the snares of vanity, spiritual pride and censoriousness, is 
a question which I hope your book will well determine. 

I must now conclude. The dangers and cautions I have sug- 
gested, arise out of the power and eminent value of the spirit of 
genuine revivals. I owe too much of what I hope for as a Chris- 
tian, and what I have been blessed with as a Minister of the Gos- 
pel, not to think most highly of the eminent importance of promot- 
ing this spirit, and consequently of guarding it against all abuses. 
Whatever I possess of religion began in a revival. The most pre- 
cious, stedfast and vigorous fruits of my ministry have been the 
fruits of revivals. I believe that the spirit of revivals, in the true 
sense, was the simple spirit of the religion of Apostolic times, and 
will be, more and more, the characteristic of these times, as the 
day of the Lord draws near. May the Lord bless us with it more 
abundantly and purely, and use your work eminently in its promo- 
tion. 

I remain, very truly and affectionately. 
Yours, &c., 

CHARLES p. McILVAINE. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XIL 

From the REVEREND WILLIAM NEILL, D. D. 

Late President of Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 

Germantown, j^pril 6, 1832. 
My Dear Sir, 

I am pleased to find that you are about to publish a course of 
lectures on Revivals of religion. The subject, always interesting 
to Christians, has become peculiarly so, of late, by reason of the 
frequency and power of those precious refreshings from the Lord ; 
and, also, because of the extraordinary means employed, in some 
instances, to promote and perpetuate them. The views of some of 
the clerical brethren, of several denominations, which you are en- 
deavoring to collect, may form a useful appendix to your work. 
In contributing an expression of good will towards this latter 
object, my words shall be few ; and it is my prayer, that they 
may be well ordered, and in keeping with the law and the testi- 
mony. 

A revival of true religion is a blessing of no ordinary import ; 
and, if every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father 
of lights, then, clearly, a genuine revival is from the same divine 
source. '' Paul plants and ApoUos waters ; but God gives the 
increase." " Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth," 
saith the Redeemer. From these two passages of Holy Writ, not 
to mention others, we may say — nay, I must believe we are bound 
to acknowledge, that, of every true revival, God is the efficient 
cause ; and his revealed will, with his instituted ordinances, the 
chosen instruments. I know, indeed, that men are under obliga- 
tion immediately to repent and turn to God ; and I also know, that 
when God works in the soul, disposing it to will and to do his good 
pleasure, he calls its faculties into vigorous action ; so that the divine 
influence, in no respect, infringes man's moral agency. To attend 
to the truth — to believe the gospel — to repent after a godly sort — 
to love God, and obey his commands, and lay hold on eternal life, 
are duties incumbent on every man ; and, when performed, are 
acts or exercises of his own mind : but it is the Spirit of God, in 



100 APPENDIX. 

view of the word of precept and promise, that moves and enables 
him to put forth these mental efforts, in a spiritual and acceptable 
manner. 

When I say that the word and instituted ordinances of the gos- 
pel, are the instruments designed of God to be used in producing 
and promoting revivals, I mean to be understood as disapproving 
of all means and measures, intended to advance the cause of reli- 
gion, which are not sanctioned by the example of Christ and the 
Apostles, or which are not warranted by the discipline of God's 
house, as laid down in his Holy Bible. In judging thus, I do not 
impugn the motives, or undervalue the zeal and labors of those 
brethren in the ministry, who employ expedients in their efforts to 
bring sinners to Christ, which I deem unwarrantable. When we 
are reminded of the effects produced in connexion with the use of 
some such means, as are alluded to above, the question arises — 
whether results equally good, and extensive, and permanent, 
would not have been experienced, without the use of any ques- 
tionable means } The means of salvation which God has prescribed 
in his word, are the best ; and it is a reflection on his wisdom and 
goodness, to suppose that they need any additions or modifications 
of ours. Human devices, however ingenious and well-meant, and 
however they may have the effect of producing strong excitement, 
for a time, will, in the long run, be found fraught with mischief to 
the truth ; and to that decency and order which Christ has estab- 
lished in his kingdom. 

Allow me, here, to mention a few particulars, connected with 
some of the revivals, of which we have read in the religious pa- 
pers, that I cannot but regard as evils, or, at least, of evil ten- 
dency. 

1 . That style of preaching, which, while it aims to make the 
impenitent sinner feel his blame-worthiness, tends, indirectly, to 
cherish the idea that it is an easy thing to become a Christian, 
and that he can give his heart to God whenever he sees fit so to 
do, independently of a divine influence. Let him take up this idea, 
and he will feel easy, and be very apt to postpone repentance, till 
he shall have enjoyed the pleasures of sin for a season. 

2. The use of anxious seats, and putting the people to the test 
of a public vote, under the influence of strong feeHng. Have mi- 



APPENDIX. 101 

nisters a right to propose this measure ? Is it not embarrassing to 
the humble ? Does it not foster forwardness and self-confidence in 
those who have not yet learned what spirit they are of ? 

3. Public confession of sins, in the face of promiscuous assem- 
blies. This practice, in my view, is based on a misinterpretation 
or wrong use of a scriptural precept — ^' Confess your faults one to 
another" — that is, in private, or in the presence of a few, select 
Christian friends. When done in public, it looks like aiming at 
effect ; gives occasion of reproach to the enemies of religion, &c. 
We should avoid all appearance of evil. 

4. Calling upon zealous but unauthorised persons to perform the 
appropriate duties of ordained ministers. This is calculated to 
bring the ministry into contempt, and to inflict upon the church a 
host of self-commissioned and unqualified teachers. 

5. Hasty admissions to the communion, of very young persons, 
or of those who have given but little proof of their knowledge of 
the gospel, or of their having experienced a gracious change of 
heart. The good seed often falls on stony ground, where there is 
not much depth of earth. A reasonable time of probation seems 
expedient, if not demanded, by a proper regard for the persons ad- 
mitted, and for the peace and purity of the church. 

6. A neglect of ministers of the gospel, who are not considered 
thorough-going revival men. I honor an intelligent and zealous 
preacher, whose services God has honored, in promoting revivals ; 
but I also hold in reputation the man, whose ministrations are se- 
rious, and of an evangelical strain, though they may never have 
been strongly marked, by what are commonly called revivals. 
There is a diversity of gifts, under the guidance and hallowing in- 
fluence of the same Spirit. In some revivals, I fear, a minister, 
not distinguished as a revival many and an advocate of strong, deci- 
sive measures y would hardly be invited to preach, lest he should 
come with an extinguisher in his doctrine or manner. In my 
humble judgment, these things ought not so to be. 

How far the foregoing remarks will meet your views, Dear 
Brother, I know not. They have been made freely ; but without 
any unkind or uncharitable feelings towards those who differ 
from me in opinion. They are submitted to your disposal ; with 



102 



APPENDIX. 



my best wishes and earnest prayers, that your forth-coming 
work may prove a blessing to the cause of revivals, and be owned 
of God in advancing the kingdom and glory of our dear Re- 
deemer. 

Your fellow servant in the Gospel, 

WILLIAM NEILL. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XIII. 

From the REVEREND PHILIP MILLEDOLER, D. D. 

President of Rutgers' college, New-Brunswick, New-Jersey. 

JV^ew-Brunswicki April 3, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

Your esteemed favor of March 12th has been duly received. 
The application made in it needs no apology. It involves a sub- 
ject of deep interest to the whole church of God. Viewing it in 
this light, I feel no reluctance in attempting to comply with your 
request. 

The phrase " Revival of religion" has respect to two sorts of per- 
sons : — 1 . To those who are awakened from a state of spiritual 
death to a state of spiritual life : and, 2. To those who being thus 
awakened, are reanimated after seasons of depression, by a renewed 
and divine unction or impulse. Both these operations are recog- 
nised in the sacred scriptures ; and both are attributed to the Holy 
Spirit. Hence those who are born again are said to be born of 
the Spirit ; and times of reviving or refreshing are every where at- 
tributed to him as their undoubted author. 

This influence of the Spirit is exhibited under various symbols 
or emblems : For example, under the emblem of the rain. Hence 
it is predicted of Messiah, that " he should come down as rain 
upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth."* Under 
the emblem of Jire — '^ He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost 
and with fire."! Also under the emblem of the wind — " The 
wind bloweth where itlisteth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, 
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth : so is 
every one that is born of the Spirit. "J The movements of this 
element are, as we know, exceedingly diversified. It sometimes 
gently breathes upon, and at others moves with tremendous and 
resistless power over the face of the earth. In both cases, it is 
unseen : in neither case, unfelt. Its operations are, indeed, every 
where perceptible, whilst the laws by which it is governed are, in 

*Ps. lxxii.6. tLukeiii. 10. tJohniii.8. 



104 APPENDIX. 

many respects, deeply mysterious. The prophet, in his vision of 
the valley of dry bones, was commanded to prophesy to the wind. 
He did so, and the wonderful result was not merely the symbol of 
a political, but also of a spiritual, and even of a physical resurrec- 
tion at the last day.* 

That human experience accords with this scriptural account 
of the works of the Spirit, there can be no doubt. For, 1. We 
have almost numberless instances of a resurrection from a death of 
sin to a life of righteousness. 2. There are many examples record- 
ed in scripture of the ebbing and flowing of the tide of spiritual in- 
fluence : or, in other words, of the communication and comparative 
withdrawment of that influence both from individuals and from 
churches. The alternations of hope and fear thereby produced 
are strikingly exhibited in the experience of David, of Job, of the 
Apostle Paul, of the Asiatic churches, and of many churches both 
of Europe and America in our own day. And are we not author- 
ized to infer that the changes experienced in this respect by indi- 
viduals, may occur on a larger scale ; that is, in families, churches, 
districts of country, and whole nations ? 

Now if this view be correct, it is strange that the reality of re- 
vivals should be called in question, and especially by those who 
read the Bible, are acquainted with church history, or have any 
knowledge whatever of the ordinary or extraordinary operations of 
the Spirit of God upon the soul. 

I have witnessed two revivals during my own ministry. The 
first occurred between the years 1800 and 1805, whilst I was of- 
ficiating as pastor of the Pine-street church, Philadelphia. The 
second between the years 1807 and 1812, whilst officiating as 
pastor of the Rutgers-street church, New- York. The former 
continued more than eighteen months ; the latter three years. 
Both occurred under the regular administration of the Word and 
Sacraments. Large additions were made during their continu- 
ance to the communion of those churches. The church in Rut- 
gers-street grew in a few years from somewhere about eighty to 
upwards of seven hundred communicating members. This work 
was connected with no extra means, except an additional weekly 

* Ezekiel xxxvii. 



APPENDIX. 105 

lecture or prayer meeting. It was attended with no extravagant 
demonstrations of any description whatever ; but with much ap- 
parent humihty, with Christian affection, and there is reason to be- 
lieve, also, with much searching of heart, and of the Holy Scrip- 
tures. Of those admitted to full communion at that time, few, if 
any, are knov/n to have apostatized. I do not myself recollect a 
single instance of apostacy. That which was witnessed in the 
cases above mentioned, has occurred in various parts of our coun- 
try. 

That revivals of religion are extraordinary operations, is ad- 
mitted on all hands. That as such they must endure the ordeal 
of God and man is inevitable. If so, it appears to be desirable 
that there should be some criterion by which we may form a pro- 
per estimate of their character. The only safe rule that has oc- 
curred to me in forming such an estimate is the following, viz : 
That if the means used to obtain them are scrioturaL and their 
fruits wholesome and permanent, we are authorized to conclude 
that they are of heavenly origin, or, in other words, that they are 
not the work of man, but of God. 

If revivals of religion then, may, and do occur, and are so ex- 
ceedingly important to the church, is it to be wondered at, if the 
enemy of God and man should assume the disguise of an angel of 
light, and should audaciously mimic or counterfeit God's glorious 
work to answer his own evil purposes ? 

I can easily conceive of at least four objects to be answered by 
him in making the attempt, viz : 

1. To draw off the attention of Christians from a work in which 
he is very actively engaged, at the present day — that of suppress- 
ing God's truth, or of sowing the tares of false doctrine among the 
wheat in the churches. 

2. To induce a presumptuous reliance on a self-determining 
will and power to be all, and to do all, that God requires ; thus 
leading men to question their dependence on the Holy Spirit — to 
usurp his office — eventually to deny his work and influence — and 
what will inevitably follow, his eternal Godhead. 

3. To seduce into all manner of extravagance, that the whole 
work of revivals may thereby be brought into disrepute. And as 

N 



106 APPENDIX. 

men are prone to vibrate from one extreme to another, the enemy- 
may design also, 

4. To open a door for the introduction of all manner of scepti- 
cism, or at least, for what is called rational religion, or cold-blood- 
ed Socinianism. 

From a careful examination of certain views and measures re- 
cently adopted in relation to revivals, I am induced to apprehend, 

1. That a mere excitement of animal passions, or at most an 
indefinite conviction of sin, is, in many instances, mistaken for con- 
version. 

2. That the subjects of these exercises are not unfrequently 
hurried into the communion of the church, before they have had 
time to acquire, either a competent knowledge of themselves, or of 
the person, offices and benefits of Christ. 

I am aware that apostolical example is offered as a plea for this 
hurried operation. But it appears to me that the two cases are 
extremely dissimilar. To mention no other point of difference— 
the persons who embraced Christianity at that period, did so, in 
opposition to all their former prejudices and habits, and at the sa- 
crifice of all their worldly comforts and prospects. It is not so at 
the present day. Unless ministers and ruling elders therefore will 
run the risk of filling the church with mere nominal professors, at 
the expense of diminishing its actual strength and purity, they 
ought to take time to know their converts, or at least to give the 
converts time to know something of themselves, and of God's 
truth. In addition to these remarks, I am constrained to add, 

3. That some fruits of modern revivals are not precisely such 
as could be desired. The Apostle asserts in the fifth chapter of his 
epistle to the Galatians, that " the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, 
peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, &c." And we 
know that the marks of Christ's flock are humility, sacred regard 
to the truth, and a wise and heavenly charity. If then, instead 
of these fruits, we find in many instances, conceit, self-confidence, 
presumption, pride, rash judging, and lack of Christian sincerity, 
is it not requiring too much of us to believe that these fruits grew 
upon the tree of life ? Do they not appear more like the grapes of 
Sodom and the clusters of Gomorrah ? Is it to be wondered at, 
Reverend Sir, that the cause of revivals, under these circumstan- 



APPENDIX. 107 

ces, should be deeply injured ? I have heard individuals of sound 
mind, and of undoubted piety, assert, and that recently, that they 
could no longer read with the same degree of pleasure they once 
did, the accounts of revivals in our public journals. And why ? 
Not because they question the reality of revivals in the abstract — 
nor because they do not consider them as precious — nor because 
they have ceased to feel a deep interest in them ; but because they 
are dissatisfied and disgusted with the human machinery employed 
in them ; and because their confidence in the correctness of these 
accounts has, for various reasons, been exceedingly diminished. 

That the publication of your Lectures on this momentous sub- 
ject, may do much to maintain and advance the glorious cause of 
revivals in its purity on the one hand, and to expose and repel a 
most lamentable abuse of it on the other, is the prayer, 
Reverend Sir, of your friend and 

Brother in the Lord, 

PHILIP MILLEDOLER. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XIV. 

From the REVEREND HENRY DAVIS, D. D. 

President of Hamilton college, Clinton, New- York. 

Clinton, March 29, 1822. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

I have learned with much pleasure that you have lately preach- 
ed a course of Lectures on Revivals of rehgion ; and that the people 
of your charge, and many others in your city, have expressed a 
desire that they may be presented to the public through the presses 

Several gentlemen in this region, vv^hose piety and judgment en- 
title them to great confidence, had an opportunity of listening to 
some of those sermons. From the opinion which they have ex- 
pressed, I am led to believe that the publication of them would be 
highly seasonable, and tend much to subserve the interests of vital 
godliness ; and permit me to say that I am fully of the opinion that 
they ought not to be withheld from the public. 

The design of these discourses, I understand, has been, on the 
one hand, to defend revivals against the cavils of their open oppo- 
sers ; and on the other, to rescue them from the abuses of their 
professed, but injudicious friends, and to point out the dangers to 
which we are exposed, from the very constitution of our nature, 
in seasons of high religious excitement. The subject is always 
important — immensely so at a time Hke this. We are favored 
with the unspeakable privilege of witnessing a day of God's power. 
The friends of Zion have great cause for humiliation and gratitude : 
yet the signs of the times, in some respects, cannot be contemplated 
without gloomy forebodings. 

We live in an age of peculiar character — marked by a restless 
spirit of bold and daring enterprize, and an eagerness for discovery 
and invention which is reckless of consequences. There is a pre- 
vailing and strong propensity to adopt what is new, because it is 
new ; to stop our ears to the voice of experience and the dictates 
of common sense, and to turn aside from the yood old paths in 
which our fathers have walked. This spirit affects all our most 
important concerns. Even rehgion itself is not exempt from its 



APPENDIX. 109 

influence. Indeed no one of our interests is so much endangered 
by it. Never is the adversary more busy than during a high ge- 
neral excitement on the subject of rehgion. Never are ministers 
and private Christians more in danger of overlooking the plain and 
unerring declarations of God's word ; and in their zeal for the sal- 
vation of the soul, of acting on the principle that " If it is only 
saved, it is no matter by what means it is saved ^"^^ and without 
resorting to the law and the testimony, of regarding the success 
of their measures as unquestionable proof of the divine approba- 
tion. In this way they cause their good to be evil spoken of, 
and bring reproach upon the blessed work they are striving to pro- 
mote. 

It is easy to show to a sober man the fallacy of such feeling and 
such reasoning. They will justify the wildest disorder and. extra- 
vagance — even falsehood and fraud; and actions which God ex- 
pressly forbids as crimes of the deepest mahgnity. They tend di- 
rectly to destroy the distinction between virtue and vice, truth and 
error. For they will prove that systems of faith and modes of 
practice, directly opposed to each other, are all right ; and by 
impHcation that they are all wrong. They will condemn the best 
men that ever lived. Prophets and Apostles are not exempted — 
for they were not always successful. Nay, Christ himself; for he 
says, *' Who hath believed our report ?" 

The history of the great excitement in the time of Davenport, 
and the state of religion in New-England for the next subsequent 
half century at least — as well as his own confession, and the 
heart-rending misgivings of his most zealous associates — are full 
of warning to the churches in a season like the present. They 
show us how liable even great and good men are, at such a time, 
to mistake the wild and ungovernable emotions of the animal na- 
ture, for the operation of the Holy Spirit, and to substitute for the 
commandments of God the inventions of men. We have on re- 
cord a still higher example for our admonition. " Ye know not 
what manner of spirit ye are of," said Christ to some of his Apos- 
tles, when in their great zeal for doing God service, they were 
ready to call down fire from heaven for the destruction of his 
enemies. 



110 



APPENDIX, 



That you may be guided by wisdom from above, and experi- 
ence the blessing of God in all your labors for the advancement of 
his glory, is the fervent prayer of, 

Your friend and brother, 

HENRY DAVIS. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XV. 

From the REVEREND NATHAN LORD, D. D. 
President of Dartmouth college, Hanover, New-Hampshire. 

Dartmouth College^ March 12, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

I have been obliged by ill health to defer my answer to your 
favor of the 20th of January last, almost to the very limit which 
you set. 

You have undertaken a work which I regard as of the highest 
importance in reference to the religious interests of our country. 
Many are in the habit of representing these interests as being in a 
state of unexampled prosperity. I cannot so regard them. The 
religious excitement is, indeed, well nigh universal ; but I am' not 
satisfied that it is all safe, and much of it which has been called 
the work of God, will not, I fear, long bear that designation. 
The sober theology which once was the instrument of salvation, 
seems to have given place, in many instances., to a questionable 
philosophy ; human conceits and systems of measures haf-e been 
in higher regard than the simple truths and ordinances of the gos- 
pel ; large masses of the people have been hurried into excesses of 
fanatical delusion ; and busy infidelity has taken its advantage to 
mislead the simple, and inflame the more grossly wicked against 
every form and exhibition of Christianity. Much as I believe that 
the spirit of religious freedom, to the rapid increase of which these 
evils may be ascribed, will ultimately be regulated and controlled 
by the knowledge to which it will give birth, and subserve the 
cause of Christian piety to an extent that the world has never yet 
known, I still fear that these evils will become yet more prevalent, 
and for a time obscure the glory of our Zion. And I have ar- 
dently desired that some judicious pen might describe our dangers, 
and assert and vindicate the nature, and claims, and evidences of 
vital Christianity, the work of the Holy Spirit upon the human 
soul, against the mistakes of friends, and the assaults of enemies. 

You ask for an account of revivals of religion in this coUege. 
The first President Wheelock, in his *« Narratives," writes of fre- 



112 



APPENDIX. 



quent instances of general seriousness, and numerous conversions 
among the students, during his administration. I have not been 
able, however, to obtain much information in respect to that re- 
mote period. 

The memory of our present neighbors extends back no farther 
than 1805, on this subject. Then, apparently in connexion with 
the accession of a new Professor of Theology, Mr. Shurtliff, and a 
more direct influence of religious instruction than had been previ- 
ously used, the minds of the students generally became religiously 
affected, and about twenty gave evidence of conversion. From 
that time till 1815, the college was not without more or less ap- 
parent divine influence. In that year a scene of wonderful inte- 
rest occurred. While the college was beginning to be agitated by 
difficulties between the President and the Trustees, which led to 
the memorable " question" in the courts, at once, and without a 
premonition, the Spirit of God evidently descended, and saved the 
great body of the students. A general and almost instantaneous 
solemnity prevailed. Almost before Christians became aware of 
God's presence, and increased their supplications, the impenitent 
were deeply convicted of sin, and besought instruction of their of- 
ficers. The chapel, the recitation room, every place of meeting 
became a scene of weeping, and presently of rejoicing ; so that in 
a few weeks about sixty students were supposed to have become 
regenerate. A revival of such rapidity and power has been rarely 
known, and perhaps never one of such unquestionable fruits. Not 
one of the number of apparent converts, at that time, is known to 
have forfeited a Christian standing. Most of them are ministers 
of the gospel, a few are missionaries, and all are using their influ- 
ence for Christ. 

Revivals afterwards occurred in 1819, 1821 and 1826, the lat- 
ter perhaps more extensive than anj'- other, but not so perfect in 
its character and results as that of 1815. Within the last eighteen 
months, also, the college has received divine blessing, and about 
twenty of our young men have united with the church. 

The work of the Holy Spirit in a college is immediately percep- 
tible. A company of young men now moved only by ambition, or 
the love of pleasure, and presently by convictions of religious truth, 
present aspects wholly different, and opposite, impossible to be 



APPENDIX. 113 

overlooked or mistaken. I have myself seen them, and have been 
filled w^ith vi^onder at the great povrer of God. I vv^ould that the 
unbeHever might vritness these different phases, minds ardent, ex- 
citable, impatient of dictation and control, beguiled by maxims of 
false honor, and governed only by the force of lav^^s ; and the same 
minds, the next month, or vreek, subdued, quiet, obedient, bene- 
volent, yielding to the force of moral obligation, and governed by 
the simplest intimations of right. Existence itself, it has seemed 
to me, is not more unquestionable, than the reality of divine influ- 
ence in such cases. 

In regard to these revivals of religion in our college, I think it 
important to remark, that in every instance they seemed the pro- 
duct of the Spirit's influence, silently affecting different minds with 
the same truths, and multiplying the trophies of divine mercy. 
They were an effect, and not a cause of divine interposition ; and 
except as occasionally blemished through human weakness and 
sinfulness, bore the characteristics of the wisdom that is from 
above. We have known here nothing, except by report, of the 
" new measures" for building up the kingdom of Christ. We have 
no machinery for making converts ; and we could allow none to 
be introduced. We should be afraid to make, or suffer an impres- 
sion upon the young men under our care, many of whom will be 
ministers of Jesus Christ, that the gospel can be helped, or the 
work of the Holy Ghost facilitated by human devices. And I 
think we shall hold, on this subject, to our general principles, too 
long settled by the experience of ages, and confirmed by the bless- 
ing of God attending the application of them, to be now thrown 
away in the ardor of questionable excitements, or for the love of 
innovation, or even to escape the imputation of being the enemies 
of revivals. When shall the ministers and churches of the Re- 
deemer know effectually their proneness to mar the beautiful sim- 
plicity of the gospel, to add something of their own inventions to 
its sufficient ordinances, to lead instead of following the divine 
Providence, and to mistake their own dreaming for a heavenly 
impulse, to inflame the sacrifice with unhallowed fire, and to ar- 
rogate that power and that glory which belong to God only ? I 
cannot tell you how much I sometimes fear, when I look abroad 
upon our country, that Christianity will degenerate in our keeping. 



114 



APPENDIX. 



Yet let us hold to the old foundations. There are many yet to 
maintain the right, and the recovering spirit, we are assured, will 
accomplish the purposes of divine mercy, w^ill correct and convert 
the world. 

I may add that the past year has been distinguished by revivals 
of religion throughout New-Hampshire, generally in connexion 
with protracted meetings, and of a highly interesting character. 
A great amount of professional influence has been brought into the 
churches. In a few instances, I suppose, the meetings have not 
been under the most judicious management, but generally our mi- 
nisters have been wise. An important convention of ministers has 
been recently holden at Windsor, for the discussion of protracted 
meetings, and the discussion will prove immensely advantageous. 

With my best wishes in behalf of your undertaking, 

I am, Dear Sir, yours sincerely, 

N. LORD. 
Rkv. W. B. Sprague,. D. D. 



LETTER XVL 

From the REVEREND HEMAN HUMPHREY, D. D. 

President of the College at Amherst, Massachusetts. 

Jtmherst College^ April 10, 1832. 
My Dear Brother, 

I am glad to learn that you have consented to the publication of 
your sermons on the all-important subject of Revivals ; and in 
compliance with your request, I send you such brief sketches of 
what I. have myself witnessed, in " times of refreshing from the 
presence of the Lord," as the extreme pressure of other duties will 
permit. Although my experience, in this regard, falls far below 
that of some of my brethren, I desire always to retain a grateful 
remembrance of what " my eyes have seen and my ears have 
heard." 

While I confine my remarks, chiefly, to the character and fruits 
of the revivals which have taken place in this college, since I be- 
came connected with it, in 1823, I cannot persuade myself wholly 
to pass over the memorable summer of 1821, in the church of 
Pittsfield, Mass. which was then under my pastoral care. There 
had been large additions to the church, in the preceding year, un- 
der the blessed effusions of the Holy Spirit ; and I did not, I am 
ashamed to say, expect to " see greater things than these," so soon 
after the cloud seemed to have passed away. But early in the 
spring, Mr. Nettleton came, " to rest a while," in my family ; 
which, however, the importunities of the people did not permit 
him to do : and so far as means were concerned, I have always 
ascribed it, chiefly, to his earnest and pungent preaching, that the 
attention of many was soon called up, and that in the course of a 
few weeks, we were all constrained to exclaim, *' What hath God 
wrought !" It was, indeed, a " year of the right hand of the Most 
High." Never were such tokens of the presence and power of 
God seen before in that community. And yet there was very 
little animal excitement, even at the height of the revival. The 
sinner would often turn pale and tremble, under the awakening 
and searching truths of the gospel : but there were no outcries, 



116 APPENDIX. 

either in our public, or more private meetings — ^no attempts to en- 
list the passions. The object was, to make the impenitent feel 
that they were under a righteous condemnation — that they had 
destroyed themselves — that their hearts were entirely alienated 
from God — that in this alienation lay their guilt and not their ex- 
cuse — ^that, of course, they were bound to repent and become re- 
conciled to God without a moment's delay — ^that, nevertheless, so 
desperate was the depravity of their hearts, that nothing short of 
the power of the Holy Ghost would ever subdue it ; and that God 
was under no obligation to exert that power. 

So far as could be known at the time, and so far as the " fruits" 
enable us to determine, these and other kindred truths were " the 
power of God unto salvation," to multitudes that were ready to 
perish. The design was, to exalt God and bring the sinner in 
guilty at every step— not to terrify, even the vilest transgressor, 
so as to render him incapable of reasoning and reflection ; but to 
induce .him, under the strong convictions of an enlightened con- 
science, ^* to flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on eternal 
life." I cannot enter into particulars at all. I wish I could. 
Many of them would be highly interesting to every pious mind. 
By those who witnessed and felt them, the scenes of that summer 
will never be forgotten. 

While life and thought and being last, 
Or immortality endures. 

But I hasten to the more immediate object of this communica- 
tion. It was near the close of the spring term, in 1827, that God 
poured out his Spirit for the second time upon Amherst college. 
The revival began in the church, as is most commonly the case. 
For several weeks there was a manifest increase of concern for 
those " who were ready to perish," till there came to be mighty 
wrestlings with the Angel of the covenant^ — such as I believe al- 
ways prevail. The " noise and shaking among the dry bones" 
was sudden, and the work was rapid in its progress. The word of 
God was quick and powerful ! In many cases, convictions of sin 
were extremely pungent. In some, they may be said to have 
been overwhelming. But in most instances, they were short. 
When the student became convinced that the wrath of God was 
justly abiding upon him, he shut himself up with his Bible, and 



APPENDIX. 117 

his Btricken heart, under the full persuasion that the crisis of his 
eternal destiny had come. ^* Once he was alive without the law," 
but now " the commandment came, sin revived, and the young 
pharisee, as well as the publican, died." In a few days about 
thirty, and among them several who had been very far from the 
kingdom, and leaders in the broad way, were raised up, as we 
trust, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 
It was a glorious change — a most delightful spectacle. '' These, 
where had they been .^" We saw the rock from whence they were 
hewn, and the hole of the pit from which they were digged. It 
was the Lord's doing, and it was marvellous in our eyes. 

The next year, 1828, God poured out his Spirit again upon the 
college, and to a considerable number of the students, " the gos- 
pel," as we believe, was " the power of God unto salvation." 
This work was not so decisively marked in all respects as the for- 
mer ; nor were so many " brought out of darkness into marvellous 
light," as in the preceding revival. All the leading characteris- 
tics, however, were the same. " The fruits of the Spirit were, in 
both cases, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 
faith, meekness, temperance ;" and the effects upon the institution 
were visible and happy. 

In the spring of 1831, the divine Saviour once more came to 
our unworthy seminary, "upon the chariot of salvation." The 
church had been for some time in a low state, and among the first 
favorable indications of returning life, there were those deep search- 
ings of heart, which generally precede a powerful work of the 
Spirit, in the conversion of sinners. Soon the great inquiry was 
made, by one and another, ^* What must I do to be saved ?" As 
had been the case in 1827, the work was rapid, and very marked 
in all its leading features. Fear of punishment there undoubtedly 
was, in many cases, perhaps in all. But we heard little of this in 
our most intimate conversations with the awakened. The burden 
of their complaint was, a hard and stupid heart. They had sinned 
against a holy God, and in this they were utterly inexcusable. 
The sentence had gone out against them, and it was just. It was 
their immediate duty to submit themselves to God, and believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ. There was extreme guilt and infinite ha- 
zard in every moment's delay. All this they would in general ad- 



118 APPENDIX. 

mit, and when they really /e/^ it all, they were in most instances 
soon brought to the great decision. Indeed, from a careful obser- 
vation of some hundreds of cases since I entered the ministry, I 
have been led to think, that a sinner rarely remains but a short 
period under genuine conviction before he either submits to the 
terms of the gospel, or begins to lose his impressions. A person 
may be thoughtful for weeks, and even months. He may feel a 
great deal of distress at times ; he may think, and his friends may 
think, that his convictions of sin have been deep and searching for 
a long while, when, in fact, he has never seen himself in the 
blazing light of God's holy law, and of course has never been pre- 
pared to lay hold on the hope set before him in the gospel. 

The number of apparent conversions in the revival of which I 
am now speaking, was about the same as in 1827 ; and in this, 
as well as that, some were almost literally plucked as brands from 
the burning. Such and such young men, we had been ready to 
say, will hold out against every threatening and every invitation. 
But where was our faith .? "A new song was put into their 
mouths, even praise to our God." 

I need not tell you, that these "times of refreshing" have been 
of inestimable advantage to the college, by raising the standard of 
morals, and diffusing a strong religious influence throughout our 
whole youthful community. During the ten years that the insti- 
tution has now existed, there has been a decided average majority 
of professed Christians in the four classes. In some years more 
than two-thirds have been professors. Two hundred and seventy 
have graduated — sixty of them at the last commencement — more 
than two hundred of whom are hopefully pious ; and about one 
half the number of students who have entered college without 
piety, since it was established, have, as we trust, found "the pearK 
of great price," before completing their academical course. " It 
is the Lord's doing, and marvellous in our eyes." I ought to 
add in this place, that there was a powerful revival in this semi- 
nary, under the presidency of Dr. Moore, and that within a few 
months past, several individuals have expressed " hope in Christ," 
though nothing like general inquiry has prevailed. 

If you ask me, what means and measures have been most emi- 
nently blessed, in the revivals which have fallen under my own 



APPENDIX. 119 

personal observation, in college and elsewhere, I answer, — sub- 
stantially the same as were '^ mighty through God, to the pulling 
down of strong holds" in the Apostolic age — the same as were 
employed by Edwards, and Bellamy, and Brainard, almost a cen- 
tury ago — the same that have been so remarkably owned of God, 
under the labors of our beloved brother, now in a foreign land — 
the same that have been generally adopted by the most successful 
preachers in New-England, during the last thirty years, '^ The 
sword of the Spirit," I need not say, has been the great weapon — 
nor that " there is none like it." The style of preaching has been 
direct, earnest and uncompromising. The law has been held up 
in all its strictness and spirituality. The sinner has been driven 
from his last refuge, and stripped of all his vain excuses. The 
entire depravity of his heart, and the utter impossibility of his 
being saved, without the ^'washing of regeneration, and renewing 
of the Holy Ghost," have been clearly pointed out and earnestly 
insisted on ; but in such a way, as to show the rebel, that if he 
persists in his rebellion and perishes, he is literally a self-destroyer. 
I might greatly enlarge on this general topic, did my time permit, 
and were it at all necessary. But the style of revival preaching, 
in this part of the country, is too well known to need a more par- 
ticular description. 

Meetings for personal conversation, commonly called inquiry 
meetings^ have been held weekly, or oftener, and with great spi- 
ritual advantage, in all the revivals which have fallen under my 
notice. The duty of prayer, both secret and social, has been ear- 
nestly and daily urged upon Christians ; but late meetings have 
generally been discouraged, as interfering with the religious order 
of families, and tending, in a short time, to exhaust the physical 
and mental energies of God's people, as well as to mingle strange 
fire with that which is kindled from the skies. When met for 
social prayer, neither ministers nor laymen have indulged them- 
selves in loud and boisterous vociferations, in audible groans, or in 
smiting the hands together in token of their sincerity and earnest- 
ness. They have observed, that the most noisy waters are sel- 
dom deepest ; and have laid more stress upon " fervency of spi- 
rit," than upon strength of lungs, or muscular contortions. With 
us it has never been customary, either in our larger or smaller re- 



120 APPENDIX. 

llgious circles, to pray for sinners, who may happen to be present, 
by name, or to indulge in equivalent personalities. The general 
tendency of such a practice, it is thought, would be detrimental to 
the cause of piety, however different the effect might be in solitary 
instances. Females have kept silence in all the meetings, except 
such as were composed exclusively of their own sex. 

Calling anxious sinners into the aisles, to be addressed and 
prayed for, has not been practised, within the circle of my obser- 
vation ; nor have they been requested, before the great congrega- 
tion, to come forward from every part of the house, and occupy 
seats vacated for that purpose ; and wherever such measures have 
been adopted, within my knowledge, I believe the cause of revi- 
vals has lost more than it has gained by them. It is unsafe to 
argue from the present effect of any new system, that it is better 
than the old. It may accomplish more in a week, but not so 
much in a year. It may bring a greater number of persons into 
the visible kingdom of Christ, but not so many into his spiritual 
kingdom. This all will admit is possible. 

For myself, every new revival of religion which I am permitted 
to witness, serves to confirm me in the opinion, that it is safest to 
walk in " the old paths," and to employ those means and measures 
which long experience has sanctioned, and in the use of which the 
churches in this part of the land, have been so greatly enlarged 
and edified. 

With the warmest Christian salutations, I subscribe myself 

Your Brother in the Gospel, 

H. HUMPHREY. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XVII. 

From the REVEREND JEREMIAH DAY, D. D. 

President of Yale college, New-IIaven, Connecticut. 

Yale College, March 2, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

An answer to your letter of January 15th, requesting some ge- 
neral account of the religious revivals with which this college has 
been favored, has been, from time to time, postponed, on account 
of unforeseen and pressing engagements. 

The special presence and influence of the Spirit of God, have 
been repeatedly manifested in the institution. The means which 
have been used, in these seasons of deep and solemn interest, the 
views and feelings which have been expressed, and the results 
which have followed, correspond so nearly with what has fre- 
quently been related of other congregations in New-England, that 
a very summary account of what has been witnessed here, will 
probably be deemed suflacient. 

The college church was constituted in June 1757. Since that 
time, there have been several seasons of earnest attention to the great 
interests of religion, on the part of the students ; three of which, 
at least, were during the administration of President Dwight. 
The two which were the most general and powerful, were in 1802 
and 1831. I find, by consulting the records of the church, that 
the numbers added to it by profession, from among the undergradu- 
ates, were, in 1783, 20 ; 1802, 58 ; 1808, 20 ; 1815, 25 ; 1821, 
31 ; 1831, 69. 

Though these additions to the college church, may give a com- 
parative view of the numbers of those who, in different years, 
professed to devote themselves to the service of Christ ; yet they 
are far from expressing the whole amount of converts from among 
the students. Many have preferred to become connected with 
churches in places where their parents resided. Others have 
united with churches of different denominations in New-Haven. 
The present number of communicants, among the undergraduates, 
including those who belong to other denominations, is 190. 



122 APPENDIX. 

The ineans which have been used here, in seasons of unusual 
religious attention, are such as are suggested by a deep convic- 
tion of the practical bearing of two essential principles ; one, that 
the conversion of sinners is effected through the instrumentality 
of truth, scriptural truth : the other, that no exhibition of the 
truth will be effectual, without the special agency of the Holy 
Spirit. The former of these principles has excited Christians to 
make earnest and persevering efforts to gain the attention of sin- 
ners to the great truths, on a belief of which their salvation de- 
pends ; such as the depravity of their hearts and lives, the extent 
and purity of the divine law, the righteous condemnation of those 
who remain under its curse, the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ, 
the freeness of the offers of salvation in his name, the obligation of 
all immediately to repent, and believe, and obey. These, and 
other kindred truths, have been presented, not as subjects of specu- 
lation, but as affecting realities, involving the eternal welfare or 
ruin of the soul. They have been pressed on the conscience, in 
the stated ministrations of the sabbath, in occasional sermons and 
addresses, in circles composed of those who were deeply solemn, 
and in affectionate private conversation. The aim has been, by 
embracing every favorable opportunity of exhibiting and enforcing 
the truth, to keep the conviction of guilt and of danger, together 
with the only way of deliverance, so steadily before the mind, that 
the sinner could find no rest, but in yielding to the claims of the 
gospel. He has been taught that continuance in unbelief is wholly 
without excuse, and that no reliance is to be placed upon purposes 
of future repentance. 

While Ministers and Christians have been thus earnest in their 
exhortations and entreaties, their conviction that all would be in 
vain, without the influence of the Spirit, has led them to engage in 
united and fervent supplications for renewing and sanctifying grace. 
Meetings for this purpose have been multiplied ; the church some- 
times assembling " with one accord in one place," and at other 
times meeting in smaller circles, in different parts of the college 
buildings. 

Though meetings for religious instruction, as well as for prayer, 
have been frequent, yet care has been taken to have them so ar- 
ranged, as to interfere, as little as possible, with the established 



APPENDIX. 123 

order of the institution. The stated literary exercises have rarely- 
been suspended ; though the minds of individuals have occasional- 
ly been so deeply agitated, as to render it proper, that for a short 
time, some indulgence should be granted them, with respect to the 
appointed course of study. 

The fruits of these revivals have been seen, in the turning of 
numbers from the dominion of sin, to a life devoted to the service 
of God. Some who had been open and bold in iniquity, have for- 
saken their vicious courses with abhorrence, and have joyfully, and 
with full purpose of heart, consecrated themselves to the interests 
of the Redeemer's kingdom. Much the greater portion, however, 
were the sons of pious parents, had received a religious education, 
and had been accustomed to regard the doctrines and institutions 
of Christianity with respect. Of those who have here made a 
public profession of religion, few have been known openly to dis- 
honor the cause to which they engaged to devote their hearts and 
lives. Numbers have gone forth to bless the churches and our 
public councils, with their labors and influence ; to give instruc- 
tion to the tribes of the wilderness ; and to carry the light of sal- 
vation to the isles of the sea, and the idolatrous nations of Asia. 
Many, and among them the lamented Evarts and Cornelius, have 
already finished their course with joy, and have gone to receive 
their reward. It will be left to the disclosures of the future world, 
to make known to us all the good which has been done, or is yet 
to be done, by those who have been brought into the kingdom of 
Christ, by the revivals in this college. 

With great regard, 

Your friend and servant, 

JEREMIAH DAY. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague. D. D. 



LETTER XVIII. 

From the REVEREND ASHBEL GREEN, D. D. 
Late President of the College of New- Jersey, Princeton. 

Philadelphia, Jlpril 10, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

It was my intention, as I have heretofore informed you, to take 
a somewhat extended view of the state of rehgion in our country, 
in time past, especially with reference to revivals of religion. But 
this I now find impracticable, in as much as your contemplated 
publication is, it appears, already in its passage through the press ; 
and the state of my health, and some unavoidable engagements, 
permit me to devote but a small portion of time to this important 
service. 

Leaving then to yourself, or to your other correspondents, the 
proper notice of the religious revivals which have occurred in our 
land at large, I shall confine myself to four points. 1. Revivals of 
which I have had some personal knowledge. 2. More especially 
those which have taken place in the college of New- Jersey. 3. 
Remarks on the best method of conducting revivals, so that under 
the blessing of God they may be productive of the greatest amount 
of good. 4. The errors and abuses which are too often witnessed 
in a time of great and general excitement on the subject of reli- 
gion — On each of these points I shall endeavor to be brief. 

On the first, I must say something negatively — In the second 
presbyterian church of Philadelphia, to which I sustained the pas- 
toral relation for something more than five and twenty years, 
there has never been what is usually understood by the phrase *'a 
general revival of religion ;" that is, a period when nearly the 
whole congregation, or a large majority of those who have com- 
posed it, have been in a state of serious and deep anxiety in regard 
to their eternal interests ; and this resulting in a large number of 
hopeful conversions, and great additions to the communicating 
members of the church. The congregation I served, was origin- 
ally composed, almost exclusively, of the friends and followers of 
the celebrated Mr. Whitfield ; and the church was, at first, consti- 



APPENDIX. 125 

tuted, I think wholly,- of converts made under his ministry, and 
that of his coadjutors, the Tennents, Blairs, and Dr. Finley, after- 
wards president of the college at Princeton, New- Jersey. The 
first pastor of this church was the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, whose 
wonderful success, in a preaching tour which he made through 
New-England, in the close of the year 1740 and the beginning of 
1741, is still pretty correctly known by tradition.* Yet there 
was never any special revival of religion in the congregation to 
which he ministered in this city ; and he was its pastor for more 
than twenty years. He had, first and last, a good many seals of 
his ministry, but they never appeared in clusters. The immedi- 
ate successor of Mr. Tennent was the well known Mr. John Mur- 
ray, who after he fled from Philadelphia, was settled at Newbury- 
port. Under his ministry, as I have been informed, there was, 
for a short time, something like a partial revival of religion — Pro- 
bably more were awakened, and more added to the church, in the 
short period of his ministry, than in any one year of Mr. Ten- 
nent 's labors in this congregation. To him succeeded my venera- 
ble and beloved colleague, the Rev. Dr. James Sproat. His faith- 
ful ministrations were blessed to a goodly number, during the five 
and twenty years of his pastoral relation to this people ; but still, 
there was no special or general revival of religion. During my 
incumbency — for about half the time in a collegiate connexion 
with the Rev. Dr. Jane way — there were some periods, as there 
were under the ministrations of our predecessors, in which there 
was a much more lively attention to religion than at others, and in 
which much larger additions than usual were made to the church. 
There was one period, extending from the latter part of 1802, to 
the former part of 1804, when both my colleague and myself had 
a degree of raised expectation, that we were about to witness a 
day of God's power, in a general turning to the Lord of the be- 
loved people of our pastoral charge. But in this we were notgra- 

* In the curly part of my ministry in this city, there were still living several members of the 
church who had belonged to it in the time of Mr. Tennent. One of these, a very pious and 
intelligent old lady, told mo that she once asked Mr. Tennent what was the manner of his 
preaciiing which was so singubirly and generally succossfiii, in his journey through New-Eng- 
land. She said his answer was — " Madam, there was nothing peculiar in my manner of preach- 
ing, in that journey. I was constantly travelling, and had scarcely any time to study or 
meditate. But I went into the pulpit and preached as well as I could, and God taught the peo- 
ple. I had very little to do with it." 



126 APPENDIX. 

tified ; although a considerable number of hopeful conversions did 
then take place. The niost numerous addition to the communion 
of the church, in any pne year of my ministry, did not I think ex- 
ceed fifty. Yet there was no year without some additions. 

I have witnessed two or three revivals of religion in the place of 
my nativity — Hanover, Morris county, New-Jersey. The most 
remarkable one, and the only one I shall particularly notice, was 
in the year 1790. It commenced and attained its height under the 
ministry of my father, and he died in the midst of it. My mother 
wrote to me, to hasten me to my father's death bed ; but although 
I made as much speed as I could, he was dead and buried before 
I could reach his residence. The state of the congregation was 
deeply interesting and affecting. About thirty individuals — the 
gleanings of the harvest — came to converse with me on the state of 
their souls, in one day. Some of them greatly lamented that they 
had permitted their pastor to die, without letting him know their 
anxious feelings, and receiving his counsel — They were kept back 
by fear and shame. On one occasion, at this time, when I was 
preaching in the pulpit vacated by the recent death of my father, 
and making a particular address to the youth of the congregation, 
recognizing them as my coevals and some of them as my school 
fellows, they rose, by a kind of sudden and simultaneous im- 
pulse, and stood up in every part of the house. This was not a 
matter of any preconcert, for the occurrence was, I believe, en- 
tirely singular, and they certainly did not know that I intended to 
address them, for my intention was known to no one but myself. 
Having mentioned this fact, it seems peculiarly proper to observe, 
that this revival was conducted with a remarkable freedom from 
ostentation and noise. A minister only nine miles distant, told me, 
that till he went to attend my father's funeral, he did not know 
that there was any particular attention to religion in the place. 
The people had been unusually well indoctrinated and grounded in 
religious truth ; and hence, when the special influences of the 
Holy Spirit descended on them, they were not overwhelmed with 
the confusion and agitation, which the ignorant and uninstructed 
often manifest when their eyes are first effectually opened on their 
guilty and undone condition — I find I am running into too much 



APPENDIX. 127 

length, and will therefore not add any thing farther under this 
head, but proceed — 

2. To give some account of the revivals of religion which have 
taken place in the college of New- Jersey. A more extended and 
particular narrative than I can now give, may be seen in my his- 
tory of the college, appended to the Baccalaureate discourses, 
which I published twelve years ago — You are aware, I suppose, 
that Nassau Hall was founded by the friends and advocates of the 
great and general revival of religion in the time of Whitfield ; and 
that the favorite object of its founders was, to provide a nursery 
for the church, or for the education of youth for the gospel minis- 
try. In less than the first twenty years of its existence, it lost by 
death five presidents — Dickinson, Burr, Edwards, Davies and 
Finley — all of them ardent friends of revivals. Many of the first 
students of this institution, being educated professedly for the gos- 
pel ministry, were hopefully pious when they entered college; 
and to cherish and promote practical piety, was ever an object of 
care and solicitude with the eminently holy men whose names I 
have mentioned. Nor were their hopes disappointed, or their la- 
bors without a rich reward. The first location of the college was 
at Newark, where it remained for ten years, under the presidency 
of Mr. Burr, who sustained at the same time the pastoral relation 
to the presbyterian congregation in that town. During this period, 
I have not heard of any thing that could be called a religious revi- 
val among the students — a large part of them were probably pious 
when they entered the institution. In 1757 the college was re- 
moved to Princeton ; the buildings there having been previously 
prepared for its reception. The following extract of a letter from 
Dr. Finley, to Mr. Davies then in Virginia, and who had given the 
Doctor some " good news" of his success in preaching the gospel, 
both to the white population and the negroes — will give the best 
account now obtainable, of the first general revival in the college — • 
** April IGth, 1757 — I greatly rejoice that our Lord Jesus has put 
it in my power to make you a large compensation, for the good 
news you sent me. God has done great things for us. Our glo- 
rious Redeemer poured out his Holy Spirit upon the students of 



128 APPENDIX. 

our college,* not one of all who were present neglected ; and they 
were in number sixty. The whole house, say my correspondents, 
was a Bochim. Mr. William Tennent, who was on the spot, 
says, ' He never saw any in that case, who had more clear views 
of God, themselves and their defects, their impotence and misery, 
than they had in general ; that there never was he believes in any 
house, more genuine sorrow for sin, and longing after Jesus : that 
this glorious work was gradual, and spread like the increasing 
light of the morning ; that it was not begun by the ordinary means 
of preaching, nor promoted by alarming methods ; yet so great 
was their distress, that he judged it improper to use any argu- 
ments of terror in public, lest some should sink under the weight : 
that what makes the gracious visitation more remarkable was, that 
a little before, some of the youth had given a greater loose to their 
corruptions, than was ordinary among them ; a spirit of pride and 
contention prevailing, to the great grief, and even discouragement 
of the worthy president ; [Mr. Burr] that there were no public 
outcries, but a decorous, silent solemnity ; that before he came 
away, several had received something like the spirit of adoption ; 
being tenderly alFected with the sense of redeeming love, and there- 
by disposed and determined to endeavor after universal holiness. 
Mr. Treat and Mr. Gilbert Tennent tell me in theirs, that the 
concern appeared rational, solid and scriptural ; and that in a re- 
markable degree." 

The next account of a general revival of rehgion in Nassau Hall, 
I had in a letter addressed to me personally, while I was writing the 
history of the college, by the late Rev. Dr. John WoodhuU, in 
answer to certain inquiries I had sent to him, in regard to the state 
of the institution in the time of Dr. Finley. He says — ^' As to re- 
vivals of religion, there were some partial ones in college, [the 
foregoing account shows, that one at least was more than partial] 
before Dr. Finley 's time ; but in his time there was something 
general. It began in 1762 in the Freshman class, to which I 
then belonged. It was a pretty large class, containing between 
twenty-five and thirty members. Almost as soon as the session 

* Both Dr. Finley and Mr. Davies were eventually presidents of the college, but before 
either of them was so, as was the case when this letter was written, they called the institution 
" our college." It was so in fact ; they and their friends both founded it, and sustained it 



APPENDIX. 129 

commenced, this class met, once in the week, for prayer. One of 
the members became deeply impressed ; and this affected the 
whole class — The other classes and the whole college soon became 
much impressed. Every class became a praying society. Socie- 
ties were also held by the students, in the town and in the coun- 
try. I suppose there was not one that belonged to the college, 
but was affected more or less. There were two members of the 
senior class who were considered as opposers of the work at first. 
Yet both of these persons were afterwards preachers of the gospel. 
The work continued about one year. Fifteen, or about half of 
my class, was supposed to be pious ; and in the college about fifty, 
or nearly one half of the whole number of students." 

Dr. Witherspoon was the successor of Dr. Finley, and entered on 
his office in August 1768. There was a remarkable revival of re- 
ligion in the college under his administration ; but I am not able to 
determine accurately the time of its commencement, nor that of 
its termination. From a collation of some facts and circumstances, 
I believe that it began in 1770, and that its effects were felt in the 
college till 1773 ; but of this revival no printed or written account 
has ever been seen by me. I have heard much of it ; and while 
I was a professor in the college, before my settlement in Phila- 
delphia, one of the subjects of it, Lewis Fuilleteau Wilson, then a 
practising physician in Princeton, but afterwards a minister of the 
gospel of much reputation and esteem in North Carolina, gave me 
something like a connected narrative of this display of divine 
power and mercy ; although his own case was chiefly the subject 
of his communication. He was an Englishman by birth, and had 
his grammar training in the celebrated Westminster school, but 
was sent to Princeton to complete his education under Doctor 
Witherspoon. He graduated in 1773 ; and his statement was in 
substance this — A very serious attention to religion, he said, be- 
gan in the college while he was a student, and increased till a 
large proportion, perhaps a considerable majority, of all the inha- 
bitants of the house, became deeply affected with a concern for 
their eternal well being. The work, however, had at first some 
opposers ; and among these, my informant represented himself as 
the most decided and active of all. When he discovered that a 
meeting for prayer and religious conference was held in a particu- 
Q 



130 APPENDIX. 

lar apartment, as was often done, he said that he used to go into 
an adjoining room and play on his flute, that he might interrupt 
the exercises : and when some of his fellow students endeavored 
to talk with him, seriously and tenderly, he not only repelled their 
advances, but went and entered a complaint against them to Dr. 
Witherspoon. He told the Doctor that he, Wilson, wa& an Eng- 
lishman, and an Episcopalian ; and that no one had a right to in- 
termeddle with him, or with his religion. The Doctor said some- 
thing to quiet him, and sent him to his room. Shortly after this 
occurrence, the Rev. Dr. Spencer, a trustee of the college, deli- 
vered a sermon in the prayer hall of the edifice, which Wilson 
attended of course ; and an impression was now made on his con- 
science, which he was never able to shake off". After some time of 
sore conflict, he obtained a comfortable hope of his reconciliation 
with God through Jesus Christ ; and when he gave me this ac- 
count, I thought him an eminently humble and fervent Christian. 
This individual was one of the dearest and most valued friends of 
my early life ; and hence I have indulged my feelings in repeating his 
statement so particularly. But it serves to shew, better than any 
thing else I could say, the nature and extent of the revival which 
is now under consideration. I could name a number of men, after- 
wards of great distinction in our country, who were at this time 
very deeply impressed with religious truth ; and who for years 
were considered as practically pious ; and yet, eventually, lost all 
serious sense of religion, and probably became infidels in principle. 
On the other hand, however, a number — and I believe a larger 
number — retained and adorned their religious profession through 
their subsequent lives — I have understood that several eminent mi- 
nisters of the gospel, besides him whom I have particularly men- 
tioned, dated their change of heart and life, from what they expe- 
rienced in the college at this time. 

For the long period of full forty years, after what I have just 
stated, there was nothing in Nassau Hall that had the appearance, or 
the name, of a religious revival. The military spirit that pervaded 
our whole land, shortly after what took place as narrated above j 
was exceedingly unfriendly to vital piety, among all descriptions 
of our citizens. Before the colleges of our country were broken 
up, as the most, if not all of them were, in the course of our revo- 



APPENDIX. 131 

lutionary war, military enthusiasm had seized the minds of the 
students, to such a degree that they could think of little else than 
warlike operations. The gentleman whose case I have mentioned, 
was, for a few months, a tutor in the college at Princeton ; and 
he told me that the students formed themselves into a military 
company, chose their officers, furnished themselves with muskets, 
learned the manual exercise, and could not be kept from practising 
their evolutions, even during the hours of study, and in the college 
edifice. He said that they in fact drove him out of the house ; 
that is, they rendered his situation so unpleasant that he abruptly 
resigned his tutorship, and went to the study of medicine in Pliila- 
delphia. The exercises of the college at Princeton were totally 
suspended, for more than three years ; and the edifice was a bar- 
rack, in turn for both the British and American troops ; and the 
interior of it was completely defaced, exhibiting nothing but filth 
and dilapidation. In the spring of 1782, when I became a mem- 
ber of the institution, about two years after the recommencement 
of its exercises, the walls of the building were still perforated in a 
number of places, the effect of the cannon balls which had passed 
through them, firom the artillery of the American army in the bat- 
tle of Princeton — with a view to drive out of the edifice a British 
corps that had taken shelter there ; and only two of the entries 
were in a habitable state. While I was a member of college, there 
were but two professors of religion among the students, and not 
more than five or six, who scrupled the use of profane language in 
common conversation, and sometimes it was of a very shocking 
kind. To the influence of the American war succeeded that of 
the French revolution, still more pernicious, and I think more ge- 
neral. The open and avowed infidelity of Paine, and of other 
writers of the same character, produced incalculable injury to reli- 
gion and morals throughout our whole country ; and its effect on 
the minds of young men who valued themselves on their genius, 
and were fond of novel speculations, was the greatest of all. Dr. 
Smith, the president of the college at that time, used to complain 
grievously and justly, of the mischievious and fatal effects which 
the prevalent infidelity had on the minds of his pupils. He told 
me, that one man, who sent his son to the college, stated explicitly 
in a letter, that not a word was ever to be said to him on the sub- 



132 APPENDIX. 

ject of religion — The youth was refused admittance. During Dr. 
Smith's incumbency, there were perhaps some instances, not 
known to me, although a trustee of the institution, of young men 
who became pious while they were students of the college ; and 
there were always a number of religious students on the charitable 
funds, appropriated by the donors to the education of poor and pious 
youth for the gospel ministry ; and some also who had become 
pious before they went to college, who there supported themselves 
on their own funds. But there certainly was nothing that so 
much as approximated to a revival of religion ; and Dr. Smith's 
infirm state of health, in the latter part of his time as president, 
disqualified him for all vigorous action, in sustaining the govern- 
ment of the college ; and this favored that tendency to dissipation 
and dissolute morals, which had long prevailed ; and which, aided 
by some other concurring causes, had risen to a most fearful 
height, when I was called to the presidency in the autumn of 
1812. 

If ever a man entered on an office with fear and trembling I did 
so ; but yet it was with a firm purpose, that by the help and bless- 
ing of God, on which I most sensibly felt my dependence, I 
would either work a reformation or sink under the attempt ; and 
for a time it seemed very doubtful, which of these events would 
be realized. In looking over the first address that I made to the 
students, I find that I concluded it with these sentences — " Could 
you be engaged to seek effectually the favor of God, and to live 
habitually in his fearj you would be a law to yourselves ; and all 
our business would be instruction, and all our labor a delight. 
Then your pursuits would be rightly directed, and while your 
prospects in this world would be cheering, those beyond it would 
be rapturous. Earnestly seek, therefore, the knowledge of the 
true God, and Jesus Christ whom he bath sent, whom to know 
aright is life eternal. The time has been, when scarcely an indi- 
vidual in this house was inattentive to the concerns of his soul's 
salvation — It may be so again — Gracious God ! let me but behold 
it, and thy servant will depart in peace, having seen thy salvation." 

Yes, and through the undeserved and boundless goodness of 

God, I did at last " behold it ;" but it was not till after a two 
years' struggle, and with such difficulties and discouragements as 



APPENDIX. 133 

no worldly recompense would induce me to think for a moment of 
again encountering ; but for all of which I was infinitely overpaid, 
when it became literally true, that '' scarcely an individual in that 
house was inattentive to the concerns of his soul's salvation." 
My first measure, in attempting reformation, was the organizing of 
a system of religious instruction for the whole institution. It was 
summarily this — Every student was required to commit accurately 
to memory, and to recite to his teacher, the catechism of the church 
or denomination, to which his parents belonged. The Junior class 
studied and recited Paley's Natural Theology — The Senior class, 
Paley's Evidences of the Christian Religion : and the whole of the 
students, indiscriminately, prepared five chapters of the Bible, 
which were previously pointed out to them, for examination and 
recitation on the afternoon of the Sabbath. The recitations on 
Paley's Evidences and on the Bible, were always taken by myself — 
the other officers of the college heard those on the Catechisms and 
Natural Theology. This arrangement made it necessary that 
every student should possess a Bible ; and I was surprized to find 
that scarcely a student, except the professors of religion, owned a 
copy. The deficiency was so great, that the stores in the town 
could not fully supply it, till they obtained a number from the 
cities. An account of this great and glorious work of divine grace 
was laid before the trustees of the institution, in a semi-annual re- 
port on the state of the college, which I was then in the habit of 
making. A part of this I shall transcribe, as affording the best 
statement of facts which I can give — The account, contrary to my 
expectation, was ordered by the trustees to be made public — ** For 
nearly a year past, (says the report) a very large proportion of the 
students have attended on all the religious exercises of the college 
with more than ordinary seriousness. There was nothing more 
apparent, however, for six weeks after the commencement of the 
present session, in November 1814, than an increase of their seri- 
ous attention to the religious duties of college ; an increase both of 
the degree of seriousness, and of the number of those in whom it 
was visible. Every religious service, both on secular days and 
on the Sabbath, was attended with a solemnity that was very im- 
pressive. In the second week of January, however, without any 
unusual occurrence in providence ; — without any alarming event, 



134 APPENDIX. 

without any extraordinary preaching, without any special instruc- 
tion, or other means that might be supposed pecuharly adapted to 
interest the mind, the effect became more apparent ; and in about 
four weeks there were very few individuals in the college who 
were not deeply impressed with a sense of the importance of* spi- 
ritual and eternal things. There was scarcely a room — perhaps 
not one — which was not a place of earnest secret devotion. For 
a time it seemed as if the whole of our charge was pressing into 
the kingdom of God. This state of things has continued without 
much variation to the present time. Some indeed have become 
confirmed in the hopes and habits of evangelical piety; while 
others are serious, thoughtful and devout, though perhaps not in 
so great a degree as once they had been ; and some are losing the 
impressions they lately felt. The result is, that of one hundred 
and five students, there are somewhat more than forty, in regard 
to whom, so far as the time will permit us to judge, favorable 
hopes may be entertained that they are the subjects of renewing 
grace. There are twelve or fifteen more, who still retain such 
promising impressions of religion, as to authorize a hope that the 
issue may be favorable : and nearly the whole of the remainder 
show a great readiness to attend on the social exercises of religion ; 
not only on those which are stated and customary, but on those 
which are occasional, and the attendance on which is entirely vo- 
luntary." Such was the general statement then made. The 
means which had been employed and blessed of God in producing 
the revival, were stated to be — '^ First and chiefly, the study of 
the Holy Scriptures, accompanied with comments on the portion 
read, and a practical application of the leading truths contained in 

it. God has remarkably honored and blessed his own word 

it has qualified them to hear preaching with advantage, and at 
length the revealed truth has, we trust, been powerfully and effec- 
tually applied to their consciences, by the Holy Spirit, its author. 
# * * * 2. Appropriate addresses have frequently been made ; 
and the [public] services have been conducted with a special 
view to their advantage and religious edification. * * * * 3. 
The discipline of the college vigorously and vigilantly maintained, 
has preserved the youth generally from those vicious practices and 
indulgences, which counteract and destroy all serious impressions. 



APPENDIX. 135 

* * * * 4^ The few youths who were previously pious, had, 
for more than a year, been earnestly engaged in prayer for this 
event. When they perceived the general and increasing serious- 
ness which has been noticed, several of them made an agreement 
to speak, privately and tenderly, to their particular friends and ac- 
quaintance, on the subject of religion : and what they said was in 
almost every instance, not only well received, but those with 
whom they conversed became earnestly engaged in those exercises 
which, it is hoped, have issued in genuine piety. To promote 
and cherish this spirit, a short address on the subject of religion 
was made after prayer on every Saturday evening. In preaching 
on the Lord's day morning, subjects were selected suited to the 
existing state of the college ; a weekly lecture, intended for the 
students exclusively, was given by myself, on every Tuesday 
evening ; a prayer meeting was held every Friday evening, at 
which one of the Theological professors commonly made an ad- 
dress ; a prayer meeting was, every evening, held among them- 
selves, at which a large proportion of the whole college attended ; 
smaller and more select associations for prayer were also formed ; 
the individuals whose minds were anxious were, as often as they 
requested it, carefully conversed and prayed with in private ; 
writings of approved character, on doctrinal and practical religion 
were recommended ; and a short system of questions and counsel* 
was drawn up by myself, for the use of those who appeared to 
have entered on a life of practical piety." 

Such, my dear Sir, is a summary account of the great revival of 
religion with which it pleased a gracious and sovereign God to 
bless the college of New-Jersey, while I presided over it — For a 
more particular and extended account, if any desire to see it, re- 
ference may be had to the pamphlet published by the order of the 
trustees. I know not by whom this pamphlet was sent to the 
editor of the Christian Observer in Britain ; but nearly the whole 
of it was republished in that periodical for the month of October 
1815, with some remarks of a laudatory kind, and some of a dif- 
ferent character. Whether this revival was more general and ex- 
tensive than some that preceded it, I am not able to determine. 

* Tliis bus since been published as a tract, and widely distributed. When written, I had no 
expectation that it would go beyond the walls of the college, except aa a student might choose 
to keep a copy for hia own uso in future. 



136 APPENDIX. 

First and last, but a single individual, as I had good reason to be- 
lieve, remained without serious impressions of greater or less pun- 
gency : but there was one, and he a diligent and orderly student, 
who declared, as I was well informed, that through the whole he 
felt no seriousness, or emotion of a religious kind at all. The 
fruits of this revival were happy and lasting. For although a 
number lost their impressions, some speedily and some very gradu- 
ally, yet there are a goodly number now in public life, who are 
bringing forth the fruits of that renovated nature, which was impart- 
ed to them by the gracious Spirit of God, in this revival. I once 
counted the number of ministers of the gospel whose conversion 
was believed to have taken place at this time. I forget what the 
number was, but I remember I thought it greater, than that pro- 
duced on any similar occasion in Nassau Hall. There were two 
other periods, during my presidency, at which hopes were excited, 
that we were on the eve of another general revival. But the fa- 
vorable appearances passed away, without realizing this hope ; yet 
not without leaving several monuments of divine grace ; some of 
them very remarkable. Mr. Ramsey, who has recently gone on 
a mission to the East Indies, in the employ of the A. B. C. F. 
Missions, narrated to me, shortly before he left this city, the cir- 
cumstances of his conversion, at one of the two periods to which I 
have referred. There have also been favorable appearances, and 
some instances, apparently of a real change of heart and life, since 
I left the college. But of these you can obtain better information 
than I can give, from the present president of the college — There 
has not, however, been any thing like a general revival. May a 
gracious God soon grant it ! — to an institution consecrated by its 
founders to the promotion of science in union with piety ; and in 
behalf of which many fervent prayers, both of the living and the 
dead, have ascended to the throne of his mercy. 

3. My remarks on the best method of conducting revivals, so 
that under the blessing of God they may be productive of the 
greatest amount of good, are now to be offered. Of what you 
may have said in your forthcoming discourses, on this topic, I am 
not apprized ; but I suppose it probable that either incidentally or 
directly it has received your attention ; and the statement I have 
just made in regard to what took place under my presidency in 



APPENDIX. 137 

Nassau Hall, indicates my general views in relation to the con- 
ducting of revivals ; for what was then done I approved, and no- 
thing that I wished done was omitted ; nor has any thing since 
occurred to change the opinions that I at that time entertained — I 
then say briefly that in a time of revival, so far am I from think- 
ing that the preaching employed should be merely hortatory, and 
principally addressed to the feelings, that I am persuaded it ought 
to be eminently doctrinal. Lively, and tender, and close, and full of 
application it certainly should be ; but the great and fundamental 
doctrines of the gospel should be brought out clearly — be lucidly 
explained, and much insisted on. There ought to be a good many 
of what I would call discriminating discourses — in which true re- 
ligion should be distinguished from every counterfeit, and the dan- 
ger of embracing and resting on a false hope be fully exhibited. 
Of what may be denominated, by way of eminence, gospel preach- 
ing, there ought to be no lack ; that is, the all-sufficiency of the 
Lord Jesus Christ to save even the chief of sinners, and his readi- 
ness to receive them, when they come to him in the exercise of 
faith and a contrite spirit — his readiness to cleanse them in his 
atoning blood, to clothe them with his perfect righteousness, to 
justify them freely, to sanctify them by his Spirit, to adopt them 
into his family, and to crown them with eternal glory, should be 
set forth in the most clear and persuasive manner. The true na- 
ture of regeneration — of evangelical faith, genuine repentance, and 
new obedience, should be carefully explained and illustrated — The 
danger of grieving away the Spirit of grace, by those with whom 
he is striving, and the danger of all delay in accepting the gospel 
offer, should be often brought into view. The peril to the una- 
wakened and the careless, when others are anxious and pressing 
into the kingdom of God — the awful peril of passing a season of 
revival without sharing in its blessed effects, should often be 
pressed home, on those who remain at ease in their sins — There 
may be an excess of public or social exercises ; for neither an in- 
quiring sinner nor a young convert, should spend so much of his 
time at public meetings, or more privately with Christian friends, 
as to leave him very little for serious meditation and prayer by 
himself. Yet certainly there ought to be many meetings, not 
only for preaching, but for conference and prayer — some in which 

R 



138 APPENDIX. 

experienced and established Christians should meet with inquirers ; 
some in which inquirers and young converts should meet by them- 
selves, or with their pastor and an elder or two of the church, or 
other judicious Christians ; and some, I think, in which the peo- 
ple of God should come together, chiefly by themselves, to pray 
for the continuance and increase of the heavenly influence that has 
been shed down around and upon them, and that it may eventuate 
in a large ingathering of souls to the fold of Christ — Much, very 
much, it should be recollected, is to be hoped for from fervent, 
effectual and persevering prayer ; and very little to be expected, if 
this be wanting, let other means that are used be whatever they 
may. I am decidedly in favor of protracted meetings, if not un- 
duly protracted. I think that we have scriptural examples of 
them, in the holy convocations of the old testament, and in the 
lengthened attendance of multitudes on the ministry of our blessed 
Saviour, as recorded in the Evangelists. But great care should 
be taken to prevent all abuse of these meetings, and to see that 
they are conducted with entire sobriety of behavior, and if possi- 
ble with a pervading and deeply felt solemnity, from the beginning 
of them to their termination. Their happy effect, under the bless- 
ing of God, seems to result from their being adapted to keep the 
solemn truths of the gospel, and the realities of eternity, before 
the view of the mind, long enough to make a deep and lasting im- 
pression — an impression not so easily effaced as that which is of- 
ten made and lost, by the single-day exercises of the sabbath. 
They are in fact, only a modification of the protracted sacramental 
solemnities, well known in Scotland, and in some parts of our 
country and church. To anxious seats, (a strange appellation) in 
a promiscuous congregation, on which the awakened and alarmed 
are placed by themselves, to be addressed and prayed for sepa- 
rately, and to be gazed at by the whole assembly, I confess I am 
not friendly. I do not deny that they may have been used with- 
out injury, perhaps with some advantage, in certain places, and on 
particular occasions. But as a general measure they seem to me 
unnecessary, and seriously objectionable. That the anxious 
should be specially addressed and prayed for, I not only admit, 
but consider as highly important. But this can surely be done, 
and I think to much greater advantage, after the promiscuous au- 



APPENDIX. 139 

dience has retired, or in what I think still better, a meeting spe- 
cially appointed for the purpose — Such a meeting I held weekly, 
for the students of the college at Princeton, in the revival there of 
which I have spoken. But anxious seats in a promiscuous as- 
sembly, seem to me far less calculated to ascertain the number and 
the individuals who are truly and deeply impressed, than a meeting 
to which there is no motive to go, but a deeply felt anxiety of 
soul, and desire of relief — There is an ostentation about anxious 
seats, in an indiscriminate assemblage, which I am persuaded keeps 
some back, who are really laboring in spirit, and brings others 
there who feel very little ; and the use of these seats has I think 
been, in some places, the first step to ulterior proceedings of a very 
exceptionable character — There ought to be as much private, indi- 
vidual conversation, between a pastor and those of his charge who 
are deeply convinced of their lost estate, and inquiring what they 
must do to be saved — as much of this, as his time will admit ; 
and here in particular he should call the elders of his church to his 
aid, and add to it the assistance of some other discreet and judi- 
cious Christians. But the conversation of awakened sinners with 
persons wanting prudence and experience, although perhaps not 
destitute of piety, has often done much harm, and should be guard- 
ed against as far as practicable — 'Books, as well as conversation, 
ought to be used, by those whose minds are laboring in spiritual 
things — especially when they have reached a state in which they 
have hope mingled with fear, in relation to the momentous inqui- 
ry whether they have passed from death to life, or not. My 
" Questions and Counsel," heretofore mentioned, were prepared 
for my pupils at Princeton, when they were conceiving hopes 
that they had become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Great care 
should be taken to deal faithfully, tenderly and discreetly, with all 
who are in this situation. Besides the Bible, the daily and prayer- 
ful reading of which should be enjoined on all who are endeavor- 
ing to ascertain their religious state, the works of our standard 
writers on the subjects of doctrinal and experimental religion, 
should be recommended, and as circumstances favor, diligently 
perused. I might add other remarks, but I have already exceed- 
ed proper bounds, under this particular. I cannot however omit 
to say, that during the whole of a revival, the solemn truth, that 



140 APPENDIX. 

true conversion is a work of God, and not of men, ought to be 
made prominent, in all discourses, both public and private. 

4. I am to mention some of the errors and abuses which are 
too often witnessed, in a time of great and general excitement on 
the subject of religion. It may seem mysterious, that God 
should permit a work of his own holy and blessed Spirit to be ac- 
companied, marred and perverted, by errors and abuses. But so 
it has been from the beginning. It appears from the 14th chapter 
of the first epistle to the Corinthians, that in the time of the Apos- 
tle Paul, there was such an abuse, even of the miraculous gifts of 
the Holy Ghost, that there was danger that at least the ^' ignorant 
and unbelievers" would draw the conclusion — and the Apostle in- 
timates that it would not be an unnatural conclusion — that those 
who acted in the disorderly and extravagant manner which he 
describes, were '* mad." Alas ! how often, since the time of the 
Apostles, have religious excitements been permitted to run into 
wild excesses, even greater and more pernicious than those which 
he rebuked. Such, it is well known, were witnessed in some 
parts of our country, in the great revival in the time of Whitfield, 
though always discountenanced by him, and by all the discreet, 
pious, and distinguished ministers of the gospel, who co-operated 
with him. I have before me while I write, a pamphlet on this 
subject, written and published by the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, 
the first president of the college of New- Jersey. The title of the 
pamphlet is too long for me to insert, but it is headed with the 
words " A display of God's special grace, in a familiar dialogue." 
The copy I have, was from a second edition, printed in this city, in 
1743, and the whole design of the publication avowedly is, to 
maintain that what then appeared was " a display of God's special 
grace ;" and at the same time, to bear a most pointed testimony 
against all the extravagances and errors by which it was attended ; 
and they were very much the same, in the substance of them, as 
have since appeared in our country, and are, at this time, exhibit- 
ed in certain places. There is a recommendation of this work, 
called " A prefatory attestation," subscribed in Boston, under the 
date of August 10th, 1742, by Benjamin Colman, Joseph Sewall, 
Thomas Prince, John Webb, WiUiam Cooper, Thomas Foxcroft, 
and Joshua Gee. A similar attestation, accompanied the second 



APPENDIX. 141 

edition, and Is dated " Philadelphia, June 1st, 1743," and sub- 
scribed by Gilbert Tennent, WiUiam Tennent, Samuel Blair, 
Richard Treat, Samuel Finley and John Blair. By this publica- 
tion, the fathers of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches, 
whose names are attached to it, " being dead yet speak ;" and 
they speak as decidedly against some of the new measures now in 
vogue, as if it had been their immediate object to condemn them. 
At the time when the excesses, which were witnessed in Kentucky, 
about thirty years ago began to appear, and which terminated 
most disastrously to the interests of vital piety, I advised the re- 
publication and transmission to that region, of numerous copies of 
Mr- Dickinson's pamphlet. But this was not done ; and indeed 
before it could be done, those who needed it most, had gone be- 
yond the reach of all reason or argument. They regarded them- 
selves as the only truly enlightened men, and the exclusive 
friends of revivals of religion, and they looked with pity or con- 
tempt, on all who endeavored to counteract their fanaticism, and 
regarded and denounced them as cold hearted formalists and 
wretched hypocrites. You are aware, I presume, of the result of 
this great religious excitement. There were a considerable num- 
ber, doubtless, who became truly pious. But Cumberland pres- 
byterianism, Shakerism, Socinianism and Deism, reaped a large 
part of the harvest that grew up from the seed which was sown 
by the exclusive revival men at that time. Kentucky has not 
yet fully recovered from the injury which was done to her reli- 
gious interests, at this memorable period. It was followed by an 
open avowal and general prevalence of infidel principles, with all 
their mournful consequences, beyond any thing that had previous- 
ly appeared. 

I cannot pretend to enumerate all, nor the half, of the errors 
broached, and the abuses committed, in the times of religious ex- 
citement which have occurred in our country. The distinguishing 
doctrines, and the ecclesiastical order of our church, have, at such 
periods, always suffered. The doctrines of God's sovereignty, 
original sin, the entire dependence of the sinner on the special in- 
fluence of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration and con- 
version, and justification solely by the righteousness of Christ im- 
puted to the believing penitent, and received by faith alone, have 



143 APPENDIX. 

almost invariably been either denied, or perverted and misrepresent- 
ed, in a manner that was equivalent to a denial. The order of our 
church has been disregarded — All who chose have become ex- 
horters and leaders in social worship — not, in some places and on 
some occasions, to the exclusion of women, even in promiscuous 
assemblies. The eldership of the churches, and indeed all church 
discipline, and all church judicatures have been disregarded, if they 
attempted to restrain or censure the intemperate zeal of those who 
considered themselves as more enlightened, and more endowed 
with spiritual gifts and graces, than men, however long might have 
been their standing in the church, and eminent their piety, pre- 
viously to the period of excitement. It has even happened that a 
minister who has led others into extravagance, has at length found 
himself left behind them, and been considered and treated as a 
mere formalist, for whose conversion prayer needed to be made, 
and has been made accordingly, in the social meetings of his for- 
mer disciples. I have neither time nor inclination to specify the 
almost innumerable acts, of imprudence in speech and action — the 
harsh language addressed to individuals, privately and publicly, the 
disregard of decorum, and the introduction of novel and ostenta- 
tious practices, in the sanctuary itself — which have characterized 
the advocates and leaders of new measures, in times of great reli- 
gious excitement in our country. But there is one measure which 
seems to be pre-eminently new — for I have not heard of its ever 
having been adopted in our church, till very recently — of which 
I must take a little particular notice — It is the measure of ad- 
mitting to the full communion of the church, persons whose sup- 
posed conversion has happened but a day or two ; or perhaps but 
a few hours, before their admission — persons, too, who had pre- 
viously manifested no serious regard to religion, and who in some 
instances, had been even dissolute and profane. I can scarcely 
conceive of a practice more evidently calculated than this, eventu- 
ally to bring dishonor on religion, by filling the church with un- 
sound professors, who will ultimately become open apostates, or 
at best demonstrate that they have never possessed a spark of 
vital piety. Who that has ever seen a general awakening of a 
congregation to the concerns of the soul, but has had to lament, 
that numbers whose exercises, for a time, seemed to be as hopeful. 



APPENDIX* 143 

perhaps even more hopeful, than those of almost any others, 
eventually lost all their religious impressions, and became as 
careless as they ever had been, and often far more hard and unim- 
pressible, than in their former unsanctified state ? Now, these indi- 
viduals who thus lost their impressions, would assuredly have 
been taken into the communion of the church, if the new mea- 
sure under consideration had been in use, in the places where 
these instances have occurred. And what reason have we to be- 
lieve that sudden and hopeful impressions, and the appearance and 
profession of having experienced a change of heart, which now 
occur, will prove more solid and lasting than those of former 
times? It is admitted, that there may be, and will be, some false 
professors, after all the care and pains that can be taken to keep 
them out of the church. But they will be multiplied to an 
awful and reproachful extent, if some period of probation, and a 
good deal of sifting and close examination, be not employed to pre- 
vent the evil. The plea that is made, in favor of the mischievous 
practice in question, derived from what was done by the Apostles 
on the day of Pentecost, is^ in my apprehension, of no avail. The 
cases supposed to be similar, are very unhke. A profession of 
Christianity, at that time, could not be made, but at the imminent 
risk of all earthly possessions, and of life itself. Besides, there 
was, among other extraordinary bestowments at that time, the 
gift of '* discerning of spirits," and I have not heard that the new 
measure men have, as yet, pretended to this gift. Indeed the 
whole dispensation of the Holy Spirit, at that period, was extra- 
ordinary and miraculous ; and to draw a parallel between the oc- 
currences then, and those which now take place' — a parallel ex- 
tending to all the circumstances of the two cases — seems to me 
utterly unwarrantable and exceedingly presumptuous. 

Numerous are the lamentable consequences of the errors and 
abuses which arise in times of religious revival — They stop the 
progress of revivals, as well as prevent the blessed results which 
might otherwise appear ; they bring revivals themselves into sus- 
picion and reproach. Many think, that if they begin to yield to 
any serious impressions which they may feel when a revival be- 
gins, they will be carried away into all the excesses and delusions 
of which they have heard so much, and they shake off their seri- 



144 APPENDIX. 

ousness, and harden their hearts against all warnings and exhorta- 
tions. One of the worst consequences of the errors and abuses 
contemplated is, that they lead unsanctified men, especially worldly 
wise men, to think that all vital piety is delusive ; and that some 
decent regard to religious institutions and observances, with moral 
conduct, is religion enough, and indeed all the religion which is 
worthy of the name — Of this consequence of these errors and 
abuses the examples are multitudinous and most deplorable. New 
measure men, reproach us with being enemies to revivals, but 
they are themselves the greatest real enemies to those displays of 
God's special mercy, that they ever have. Those who openly 
oppose and blaspheme them are recognised at once as enemies, 
treated as such, and injure but few beside themselves. But these 
indiscreet and mistaken men, who claim to be, and are believed to 
be, the warmest friends to revivals of religion, are in the campy 
are identified with the cause, and all that they advise and do is con- 
sidered as belonging to the cause ; and they make it the subject of 
reproach and aversion to the world at large. Now, if the world 
is to be converted to God by revivals of religion — which I fully 
believe, and think must be evident to reflecting minds — ^those who 
abuse and pervert revivals, whatever may be their pretensions or 
intentions, are really opposing the plan and purposes of God. 
They are therefore to be withstood, with decision and firmness, 
yet with meekness and prudence. Now and then, an individual 
of them, like Davenport in the time of Whitfield, and Marshall in 
Kentucky may come out, and confess and bemoan their errors 
publicly — as every truly pious man who has been deluded, as 
they were, ought to do — ^but the instances of this frank and public 
acknowledgment of error, are rare ; and if they were not rare, the 
mischief done, is done irreparably, before those who renounce their 
error, are brought to bewail and repent of the share which they 
have had in producing it. We must oppose them, therefore, open- 
ly, and without fear or hesitation, and the sooner it is done after 
their operations have commenced, the better ; for after the delu- 
sion has proceeded to a certain length, it becomes like a resistless 
torrent, which nothing can stop, till it has spent its force. You 
have therefore, in my judgment, done well, in preaching and pub- 
lishing discourses intended to have an effect in correcting the er- 



APPENDIX. 145 

rors and abuses to which I have referred ; and on the evening of 
my ministerial Hfe, I willingly bear my solemn testimony against 
them, and am glad of an opportunity to record it, as here I do — 
May the Lord assist and bless you, in all your endeavors to plead 
his precious cause, and extend his blessed kingdom. So prays 
your friend and brother in the gospel of our dear and adored Re- 
deemer. 

ASHBEL GREEN. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague. D. D. 



LETTER XIX. 

From the REVEREND MOSES WADDEL. 

Late President of Franklin College, Athens, Georgia. 

Willington, South- Carolina, Feb. 25, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

Your letter of 26th ult. is received, in which you request me 
to communicate to you some general account of the revivals of 
religion which have occurred under my observation, or within the 
sphere of my labors ; and also my opinion on some other subjects 
connected with them. 

Shortly after the Revolutionary war ended, during the year 
1784, there was a very solemn attention to religion excited in the 
minds of many persons in the congregation of Concord, where I 
was born, and in the adjacent churches of Bethany and Fourth- 
Creek ; which were then under the pastoral care of that zealous^ 
indefatigable and faithful Minister of the Gospel, the late Rev. 
James Hall, D. D. He then resided in Iredell county, North- 
Carolina, where he also died a few years ago. This revival was 
brought about by no other means apparently than the divine bless- 
ing which attended the evangelical, experimental and practical 
preaching of the pastor, together with his untiring attention to 
public catechising and family visitation of the churches under his 
care. In these two last mentioned duties, he was in labors more 
abundant than any pastor I have ever known. This period was 
marked with no noise or sensible disorder ; but a visible solemnity 
seemed to pervade the congregations, and a number were added to 
those churches of such as, I trust, have been and shall be saved. 
Sacramental occasions, I think, were attended with more reve- 
rential solemnity than any I have ever witnessed. 

During the years 1788 and 1789, there was a considerable at- 
tention to religion in the (then) upper parts of Georgia, including 
the present counties of Wilkes, Elbert, Oglethorpe, Taliaferro, 
Hancock and Greene, in which last I then resided. The Baptist 
churches partook largely of it, by the ministry of the Rev. Silas 
Mercer and Abraham Marshall. The Methodist churches were 



APPENDIX. 147 

much increased by the ministry of the Rev. Hope Hull and others. 
The Presbyterian churches at that time in Georgia were '* few and 
far between ;" yet by the missionary labors of the Rev. Daniel 
Thatcher, and the occasional and most refreshing visits of the Rev. 
John Springer, a considerable number was added to the Presbvte- 
rian church, and several congregations were organized. In these 
eventful and important changes, seasons of public worship in our 
congregations were altogether noiseless, but -deeply marked with 
grave solemnity. 

In the year 1802, what has been often called the great or old 
revival, commenced in this State, and continued in some degree to 
appear at some places of public worship until in 1805. This was 
distinguished from all others I have ever seen in our church, in 
many respects. It was said to have commenced in Kentucky, and 
gradually passed on through Tennessee and North- Carolina, into 
this State. The first time I attended a meeting of this kind was 
in July 1802, in one of our congregations called Nazareth. This 
meeting lasted four or five days, and was followed by the appoint- 
ment of several others in different congregations within the bounds 
of our Presbytery, all of our ministers being then present. At 
that meeting many things occurred which I never had before wit- 
nessed ; such as, persons falling to the ground as suddenly as 
if they had been pierced through the heart by a bullet or a sword, 
while a sermon or exhortation was being delivered, which had no- 
thing unusually animated or appropriate in it either as to matter or 
manner. Some, when falhng, would utter a shriek, and lie dur- 
ing hours, still and silent ; others would weep and moan mourn- 
fully. The numbers who attended this meeting at Nazareth were 
variously computed by different persons, from five to eight thou- 
sand. I inclined to believe the latter more correct. I never have 
seen so many people collected at a place of worship before or since. 
This was a camp-meeting, and the first I ever saw, although I 
have witnessed a number since. Some of the following meetings 
of that kind, though not quite so numerously attended, yet exhi- 
bited more instances of persons falling than were exhibited there. 
I have never dared to say, that the operations of God's Spirit did 
not produce those, or many of those wonderful effects which were 
witnessed there and elsewhere on such occasions ; nor would I 



148 APPENDIX. 

presume to say that none of those '* bodily exercises,'''* as they 
were often called, did ultimately terminate in the saving conver- 
sion of the souls of those who were so wonderfully affected ; but I 
must say, with regret, that a number of those within the bounds 
of my personal acquaintance, who were prostrate on the ground 
for several silent hours, did not afterwards give satisfactory evi- 
dence of their heart's having been savingly changed. 

The revival of religion which came more immediately and fully 
under my view, was that which took place in the town of Athens 
and state of Georgia, in the year 1826, at which time I was pre- 
sident of Franklin college. During five years preceding, a few 
professors of our small church, which had been organized there in 
1820, had attended a weekly prayer meeting, and united in im- 
ploring the King of Zion to grant us an effusion of his Holy Spirit, 
and a season of refreshing from his presence. Two young men 
who had finished their academical studies in the college not long 
before, sickened and were cut off by death, within one month. 
As one died in the town and the other in the neighboring part of 
the country, they were both visited by a number of their fellow 
students, most of whose minds were deeply affected by the suffer- 
ings and the sayings of their dying friends. A more solemn atten- 
tion to the ministration of the word and ordinances soon became vi- 
sible, and the solemn concern of many in the college for the salva- 
tion of their souls could no longer be concealed. Seriousness be- 
came almost universal in the members of the institution, and inha- 
bitants of the town. It commenced in August. In September 
and October twenty-seven students professed to have obtained a 
hope of the pardon of their sins, and about the same number of 
persons who resided in Athens and its vicinity ; all of whom I 
think attached themselves to some church. The succeeding year 
continued to be visited with cheering tokens of the Divine pre- 
sence and blessing, not only in the college and Athens, where the 
revival commenced, but the attention to rehgion diffused itself, if I 
may so speak, to and through all the adjacent counties, and many 
more remote parts of the State. Its effects were soon felt in the 
different congregations of which Hopewell Presbytery consists, as 
well as those in the Baptist and Methodist denominations. During 
this revival there was no disorder or unusual noise in any of our 



APPENDIX. 149 

religious meetings, notwithstanding numbers were known to be un- 
der pungent convictions and deep distress of mind. 

To genuine revivals of religion every true minister and faithful 
follower of Jesus Christ must be a friend. The most proper and 
promising means that man can use to produce and promote a revi- 
val, I conceive to be frequent and fervent prayer on the part of 
ministers, elders and professors in their closets, in the sanctuary, 
and in social meetings, consisting of smaller numbers of professing 
Christians. Ministers should insist often and earnestly on the na- 
ture and necessity of regeneration founded on the entire depravity 
of human nature — the absolute necessity of an interest in Christ's 
righteousness by an humble, appropriating faith, and of the quick- 
ening, enlightening and sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit to 
work in the soul, both to will and to do, of God's good pleasure. 
To insist upon and urge these topics upon the attention of his hear- 
ers, should be the evangelist's great employment in the pulpit ; and 
afterwards to be undeniably importunate in imploring the blessing 
of Him who alone can give the increase ^ upon his labors. This 
blessing should be sought daily in his closet. To converse private- 
ly with his hearers on experimental religion is a duty, to the neg- 
lect of which the want of ministerial usefulness and success is often 
attributable. Those pastors who have been most attentive to this 
duty, as far as my observation has extended, have been the most 
wise in winning souls to Christ : and what is a revival of religion 
but a season of gathering souls into the Ark of safety ? 

Family visitation is also another most important duty of a mi- 
nister whose heart's desire is to see the pleasure of the Lord pros- 
per in his hand. On such occasions, personal interviews with the 
individuals composing the household, I have generally thouo-ht to 
be most useful. A general exhortation to the family, concluding 
always with social prayer in their behalf, is indispensable. Such 
visits endear the pastor, and inspire confidence in his ministrations 
and concern for their spiritual interest. 

Prayer for God's blessing on his word and ordinances, and fre- 
quent conversation on the experimental exercises of their souls in 
matters of religion with the members of the congregation and 
others, when opportunity is afforded, together with such cautions 
and counsel as may appear necessary, are also duties incumbent 



150 APPENDIX. 

on ruling elders who desire to see religion revive among them, 
and the pleasure of the Lord to prosper in their hands. 

With respect to the manner of conducting a religious revival af- 
ter it has pleased God to commence one, I have witnessed various 
methods, some of a more public, others of a more private nature ; 
but I have observed when I visited and conversed with persons 
privately who were anxious for their souls, they appeared more 
unreserved in the statement of the exercises of their minds than 
when surrounded by a number of others, besides the elders of the 
church. I have thought that some persons whom I have seen at- 
taching themselves to the church had been too easily and hastily 
admitted. 

May the blissful period speedily arrive, when *^ the knowledge 
of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters fill and cover the 
sea" — <' when the righteousness of Zion shall go forth as bright- 
ness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth," is the prayer, I 
doubt not, of yourself, and of 

Your friend and 

Fellow laborer in the Gospel, 

MOSES WADDEL. 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



LETTER XX. 

From the REVEREND EDWARD D. GRIFFIN, D. D. 

President of Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts. 

Williams College^ Jan. 20, 1832. 
Reverend and Dear Sir, 

You ask me for some account of the early American revivals in 
the modern series, particularly those in v^^hich I was permitted to 
take a part, and those which have occurred in this college ; toge- 
ther with my views of the proper means of conducting them and 
of guarding against the dangers incident to their abuse. 

Long before the death of Whitefield in 1770, extensive revivals 
in America had ceased. And except one in Stockbridge and some 
other parts of Berkshire county, Mas. about the year 1772 ; and 
one in the North Quarter of Lyme, Conn, about the year 1780 ; 
and one in several towns of Litchfield county. Conn, about the year 
1783 ; I know of none which occurred afterwards till the time of 
which I am to speak. 

About the year 1792 commenced three series of events of suffi- 
cient importance to constitute a new era. That year the blood be- 
gan to flow in Europe, in that contest which, with short intervals, 
was destined to destroy the '^ man of sin" and to introduce a happier 
form of society and the glorious state of the Church. That year was 
established at Kettering in England, the first in the continuous se- 
ries of societies which have covered the whole face of the Protes- 
tant world and introduced the age of missions and of active benevo- 
lence. And that year or the year before began the unbroken se- 
ries of American revivals. There was a revival in North Yar- 
mouth, Me. in 1791. In the summer of 1792 one appeared in 
Lee, in the county of Berkshire. The following November, the 
first that I had the privilege of witnessing showed itself on the bor- 
ders of East Haddam and Lyme, Conn, which apparently brought 
to Christ about a hundred souls. Since that time revivals have 
never ceased. I saw a continued succession of heavenly sprinklings 
at New Salem, Farmington, Middlebury, and New Hartford, (all 
in Connecticut,) until, in 1799, I could stand at my door in New 



152 APPENDIX. 

Hartford, Litchfield county, and number fifty or sixty contiguous 
congregations laid down in one field of divine wonders, and as ma- 
ny more in different parts of New England. By 1802 revivals had 
spread themselves through most of the western and southern States ; 
and since that time they have been familiar to the whole American 
people. 

I preached my first sermon at New Hartford Oct. 26, 1794. In 
the fall of 1795 a revival commenced, which in the course of the 
winter apparently brought about fifty to the knowledge of the truth. 
The neighbouring towns were not then visited : but in October 1798 
a great revival began at West Simsbury on the east, and soon ex- 
tended to Torringford on the west, and we were left like a parched 
island in the midst of surrounding floods. The agonies of that hour 
can never be told. First one, and then two, and afterwards more 
met me in my study for prayer, and the wrestlings were such as I 
had never witnessed in a meeting before. On the 4th of Novem- 
ber I went to the house of God, saying as I went, " My soul, wait 
thou only, only, only upon God, for my expectation is from him." 
During the morning service I scarcely looked at the audience, and 
cared not whether they were asleep or awake, feeling that the ques- 
tion of a revival did not lie between me and them, but was to be 
settled in heaven. In the afternoon, in alluding to the fact that Je- 
sus of Nazareth was passing by, and we were left, and could hard- 
ly hope for another visit so soon, and to the awful prospects of sin- 
ners in the middle of life if another revival should not come in twelve 
or fifteen years, I seemed to take an eternal leave of heads of fami- 
lies out of Christ ; I came near falling ; I thought I should be obli- 
ged to stop ; but I was carried through. The next day it was ap- 
parent that a revival had commenced ; a dozen heads of families of 
the most respectable class were under conviction ; and in the course 
of the winter and the following year a hundred were hopefully add- 
ed to the Lord. The last time that I heard that 4th of November 
referred to at New Hartford, I was told that between forty and fifty 
of those who had been received to the church, dated back their con- 
victions to that day. 

In October 1800 the health of my family and the peremptory ad- 
vice of physicians compelled me to leave New Hartford. I spent the 
winter in Orange, New Jersey. A time of refreshment from the pre- 



APPENDIX. 163 

sence of the Lord was afforded us, and about fifty were added to the 
church. In October 18011 was installed at Newark. A revival com- 
menced the following winter, which continued through 1802 and ex- 
tended into 1803. In my journal, under date of Feb. 16, 1803, I 
find a hope expressed that the number of converts amounted to a 
hundred. The neighbouring ministers were revived, and in the spi- 
rit of prayer went forth two and two to visit the congregations, 
spending a day and holding two meetings in a place, and continuing 
out six days. These means began to be blest as early as January 
1803, and that year about twenty contiguous congregations experi- 
enced the mighty power of God. 

In the spring of 1807 some seriousness appeared in Newark and 
a very few obtained hopes ; but the impression past off. In the 
summer some half a dozen Christians were much exercised for a 
revival, and, as it appeared afterwaT-ds, several sinners were night- 
ly carried in their dreams to the judgment seat, who threw off their 
impressions by day. In the latter part of August a great revival 
broke out at Elizabethtown on the south and at Orange on the west. 
The Friday before the first sabbath in September, (which was our 
communion sabbath,) was observed by the church in Newark as a 
day of fasting and prayer. On sabbath morning a meeting was held 
expressly to pray for a blessing on the word that day. Some went 
with little impression, who found themselves and their brethren lost 
in that desire, and returned with a strong hope that such a blessing 
would follow. The next day I found several Christians saying 
that they never had had such a sense of the truths brought out on 
the sabbath before. At a meeting in the evening I saw and felt such 
tokens of the divine presence, that I had no longer a doubt that a re- 
vival had begun. It had begun with mighty power. In all such 
seasons, if any feeling had been more prominent than the rest, it 
was a deep sense of absolute dependance : but never had I had so 
deep a sense of this before. I could not keep at home ; I was con- 
stantly going from house to house ; and yet I felt that I was doing 
nothing but holding a torch to the tinder which God had prepared. 
The work extended to about the same number of congregations as 
before, and by the same means, the ministers going out two and 
two as in the former case. In Newark ninety eight joined the 

T 



154 APPENDIX. 

church at one timCj and about two hundred in all. By this time 
it was understood why a greater sense of dependance had been 
granted : the work was to be greater than I had ever seen before. 

The first of June 1809, I was removed by the providence of 
God and by the advice of my brethren, to the Theological Semina- 
ry at Andover, and to a connexion with the infant church in Park- 
street, Boston, as a stated preacher. The house in Parkstreet not 
being finished, and the Rev. Mr. French of Andover dying that 
summer, I took the pulpit and supplied it till winter for the benefit 
of the family. It pleased God to pour out his Spirit. A revival 
of very considerable extent ensued, calculated to fit that atmosphere 
to be breathed by the sons of the prophets. One of the subjects of 
the work, an only child, went out afterwards a missionary's wife to 
India, and the affectionate parents, I have been informed, were heard 
to say, they never were so happy in their lives. 

The church in Parkstreet having become discouraged by several 
unsuccessful applications for a pastor, I thought it my duty, in the 
spring of 1811, to devote myself wholly to them. For four years 
we had a continual sprinkling, but things were not ripe for a hea- 
venly shower. The congregation in Newark having amicably di- 
vided, and the second congregation being vacant, they solicited me 
in the spring of 1815 to return to them. There were circumstan- 
ces which led me to believe that such was the will of God. I went 
about the first of June. In December 1816 a powerful revival be- 
gan in the two congregations, and about the same time in some 
neighbouring towns, which continued through most of the following 
year. I have no document to show the numbers that were added 
to the churches. 

In September 1821 I was appointed President of this college j 
and the indications of the divine will were so clear that I durst not 
refuse. 

Thus, my dear Sir, I have wandered over the first part of the 
ground which your partial friendship assigned me, and will now 
confine myself to the more important history of God's dealings with 
this institution. 

It was from Litchfield county that the spirit of the new era gra- 
dually crept upon this college. For near seven years after the 
charter was obtained, the professors in all the classes amounted on- 



APPENDIX. 155 

ly to five ; until, in February 1800, two of the members professed 
religion in Litchfield county, where they had been subjects of one 
of the revivals of 1799. At the next commencement one of them 
graduated and another from the same revivals entered. These two 
were the only professors in the classes, until joined by four more 
from the revivals of the same county the following spring, which 
made an important change in the religious character of the college. 
The next class that entered were nearly half professors, who in 
their senior year took part in the first revival. 

The earliest revival known to this town commenced in the spring 
of 1805 and continued between two and three years. It soon ex- 
tended to the college, where five began to hope. In the spring of 
1806 a new impulse was given to the work. That spring was 
made memorable to the college by the admission to its bosom of 
those distinguished youth, Samuel John Mills and Gordon Hall. 
Mills had been prepared by the revival at Torringford, Litchfield 
county, in 1798, 9, and he joined a class which contained such 
men as James Richards and Robert Chauncey Robbins. He en- 
tered into the revival with all his heart ; and in the course of the 
summer eight or ten of that class became subjects of the work, and 
one or two others, among whom was Gordon Hall, who joined the 
church in Williamstown that same year. The work seems to have 
continued beyond the summer ; for one account says, " Thirteen 
were added to the church, of whom nine became ministers of the 
Gospel. Ten others were supposed to be subjects of the revival." 
Another account, drawn up in 1827, says, "Besides those who be- 
came church members from the classes that graduated in 1805, 6, 
7, 8, 9, about seventeen have since become professors of religion." 

Mills had devoted himself to the cause of missions from the com- 
mencement of his new existence, and by the influence of that revival 
he was enabled to diffuse his spirit through a choice circle who 
raised this college to the distinction of being the birth place of Ame- 
rican missions. In the spring of 1808 they formed a secret society, 
to extend their influence to other colleges and to distinguished in- 
dividuals in different parts of the country. One of them first rous- 
ed the missionary energies of Pliny Fisk, who afterwards died in 
Palestine. In the autumn of that year, in a beautiful meadow on 
the banks of the Hoosack, these young Elijahs prayed into exis- 



156 APPENDIX. 

tence the embryo of American missions. In the fall of 1809, Mills 
and Richards and Robbins carried this society to Andover, where 
it roused the first missionary band that went out to India in 1812, 
and where it is still exerting a mighty influence on the interests 
of the world. In that band were Gordon Hall and Luther Rice 
of this college. Richards soon followed and laid his bones in In- 
dia. Mills and his coadjutors were the means of forming the Ame- 
rican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the American 
Bible Society, the United Foreign Missionary Society, and the Af- 
rican School under the care of the Synod of New York and New 
Jersey ; besides all the impetus given to domestic missions, to the 
Colonization Society, and to the general cause of benevolence in 
both hemispheres. Such were the fruits of the revivals in Litch- 
field county and of the first revival in this college. 

In January 1812 another revival commenced in town under the 
preaching of Samuel Nott, one of the first five missionaries who 
went out that year to India. In April and May it extended to the 
college, chiefly to the three lower classes. Tv,^enty four were hope- 
fully converted then and a number afterwards. Another account 
says, '^' Twenty one were added to the church, of whom thirteen 
have become ministers of the Gospel. Several others felt the pow- 
er of this revival, and their lives have since proved that the effects 
were not transient." 

In June 1815 the first President left the college. His parting 
sermon had a great effect on the students. A third revival follow- 
ed. Fifteen were hopefully renewed in the course of the summer. 
Another account says, " Twelve were added to the church, of 
whom nine became ministers of the Gospel. Several others re- 
ceived very salutary impressions, whose lives have since shown 
the value of this revival to them." 

About the first of March 1824 a fourth revival appeared to com- 
mence in the person of William Hervey, now a missionary in In- 
dia. Twelve or fourteen used to attend the inquiry meetings. Se- 
veral obtained hopes who endured but for a time. Hervey alone 
persevered. Of the others that were impressed , one obtained a hope 
in the summer of 1825, and is now a minister of the Gospel ; an- 
other joined the church after he graduated, and is now a professor 
in the institution. 



APPENDIX. 157 

When college came together in October 1825, the arrows of the 
Almighty stuck in several hearts. Some old hopes were scattered to 
the winds. A fifth revival ensued. During the latter part of the 
term the power was astonishingly great, affecting almost the whole 
college. Of eighty five students, full seventy thought themselves 
Christians. The impression was kept up through the spring term, 
but there it ended. In this revival thirty five experienced hopes, 
some of which were soon renounced. For aught I know, from 
twenty five to twenty seven are hoping still, and another who re- 
lapsed has apparently been recovered. Twelve or thirteen are in 
the ministry or looking forward to it. Of these, HoUis Reed went 
with Hervey to India ; two belong to a company of ministers who, 
in the spirit of missions, have located themselves for life in the 
new settlements beyond the Mississippi ; and two or three others 
have been pondering on a missionary life. 

The sixth revival began about the first of March 1827, and con- 
tinued till vacation. It spent its chief force on the two lower class- 
es, from which six professed religion. 

In October 1828 some seriousness appeared, which continued 
through that and the next term. Nine visited me under some im- 
pressions. Inquiry meetings were set up. One obtained a hope 
which was soon renounced. Not an individual held out. Three 
of them however have since given evidence of a saving change. 

A seventh revival appeared to commence in November 1829. 
That month two gave evidence of piety who still continue. High 
hopes were entertained and a determination was taken to pray till 
the blessing came. Meetings for prayer, accompanied with consi- 
derable excitement, were kept up through the term, and through 
the long winter vacation, and through the spring term. I attend- 
ed till broken off by sickness in April 1830. In the course of the 
winter two more expressed hopes, one at least of which proved 
doubtful. 

On the evening of January 6th, 1831, I was sent for to visit 
Troy, where the first in the series of protracted meetings in this 
region had lately been held, and where a great revival had begun. 
I went on the 8th and returned on the 19th. Something hopeful 
had begun to appear in town before I left home, and on Friday 
evening the 21st I went to a meeting to tell the people what I had 



158 APPENDIX. 

seen. One of the students, hearing that a statement was to be 
made, went, and was awakened. The next week we had a four 
days meeting, beginning with a fast and ending with the communion 
sabbath. This was the second protracted meeting in the series, and 
was attended with an evident blessing. A revival began in town. 
During vacation two of the students obtained hopes here, and two 
more in Troy. When college came together the 10th of Februa- 
ry, it was a time of great solemnity. The month of March was 
full of power. By the second of April twenty, including those al- 
ready mentioned, were apparently rejoicing in the truth. Of these, 
four soon renounced their hope ; the other sixteen, for aught I 
know, still endure, and the greater part appear like devoted Christ- 
ians. 

These are the eight revivals which the pity of heaven has grant- 
ed to this college in twenty six years, five of which, including two 
of less extent, have appeared in seven years.* 

The means employed in these revivals have been but two, — the 
clear presentation of divine truth and prayer : nothing to work upon 
the passions but sober, solemn truth, presented, as far as possible, 
in its most interesting attitudes, and closely appHed to the con- 
science. The meetings have been still and orderly, with no other 
signs of emotion in the hearers than the solemn look and the silent 
tear. We have been anxiously studious to guard against delusive 
hopes and to expose the windings of a deceitful heart, forbearing all 
encouragement except what the converts themselves could derive 
from Christ and the promises, knowing that any reliance on our 
opinion was drawing comfort from us and not from the Saviour. 
We have not accustomed them to the bold and unqualified lan- 
guage that such a one is converted, but have used a dialect calcula- 
ted to keep alive a sense of the danger of deception. For a similar 

* April 18, 1832. There is at the present moment the ninth revival going on in college. On 
the 18th of January w^e had a fast in town to pray for such a blessing in the college and congre- 
gation. After that I recommended it to the students who staid in vacation, to hold meetings 
for prayer. The third which they held was on the 1st of February, and I was invited to attend. 
I found the meeting uncommonly interesting and encouraging. I was then labouring under the 
commencement of a disease which confined me till near the middle of March. In that interval 
a protracted meeting was held in town and a revival commenced there, and tlie spirit of prayer 
was greatly increased in college and a spirit of inquiry began among the impenitent. The first 
hopeful conversion in college took place on the 16th of March, two days before I renewed my 
public labours in the house of God. There are now seven students who venture to hope that they 
have " passed from death unto life." Every thing is conducted with perfect stillness and deco- 
rum. 



APPENDIX. ^ 159 

reason we have kept them back from a profession about three 
months. 

Sinners have been constantly urged to immediate repentance, and 
every excuse has been taken away. At the same time we have not 
denied or concealed their dependance for the sake of convincing 
them of their obligations. On the contrary, we have esteemed it 
vital to urge that dependance in order to drive them from all reli- 
ance on their own strength, and to make them die to every hope 
from themselves. All that you can possibly gain by flattering 
their independence, is to extort a confession of their obligations ; 
for as to matter of fact, they will not submit until they are made 
willing in the day of God's power. And if you can fasten upon 
them their obligations without that falsehood which robs God of 
his glory, pray let it be done. This we have found it possible to 
do. We have shown them that their obligations rest on their fa- 
culties, and are as reasonable and as complete as though the thing 
required was merely to walk across the floor ; that their faculties 
constitute a natural ability, that is, a full power to love and serve 
God IF their hearts were well disposed, leaving nothing in the way 
but a bad heart, for which they are wholly to blame if there is any 
blame in the universe ; that sin can rest no where but in the heart, 
and that if you drive it beyond the heart you drive it out of exist- 
ence ; that they alone create the necessity for God to conquer them, 
and to decide whether he will conquer them or not ; that it is an 
everlasting blot on creation that God has to speak a second time to 
induce creatures to love him, much more that he has to constrain 
them by his conquering power ; and yet after all his provisions and 
invitations, — after he has sent his Son and his Spirit to save them, 
— after he has opened the door wide and stands with open arms to 
receive them, — they will still break their way to perdition if his al- 
mighty power do not prevent ; that by their own fatal obstinacy 
they are cast entirely upon his will ; that they are wholly in his 
hands, — that if he frown they die, if he smile they live forever. 
This is the grandest of all means to press them out of themselves, to 
cast them dead and helpless upon God, to make them die that they 
may be made alive. Conceal their dependance in order to make 
them feel their obligations ! The maddest purpose that ever was 
conceived, unless the thing required is to be done in their own 



160 APPENDIX. 

strength. And then why do you pray for the Spirit? " In all thy 
ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." But in this 
greatest of all his works he is chiefly jealous for his honour. He 
will not hear your prayers for a revival, if, when you go out from 
his presence, you tell sinners that he has nothing to do in the bu- 
siness but to convict, — that the god which regenerates is light. If 
there is any truth sweeter than all the rest, it is this, that we are 
absolutely, totally, and eternally dependant on his sanctifying grace 
and that he will have all the glory ; — if any view of God more sup- 
porting and encouraging than all the rest, it is that which the Christ- 
ian takes when he feelingly says, " My soul, wait thou only upon 
God, for my expectation is from him." Take any thing else away, 
but take not away my God. This is the last truth that I will give 
up till I yield my reason and my immortal hopes. If there is any 
truth in defence of which I would go on a crusade, — or, better still, 
in support of which I would go to the stake, — it is this. If you 
see this denial shut up heaven, and then, instead of the Holy Ghost, 
you see revivals carried on by human devices operating on the pas- 
sions, there is more cause to mourn than to rejoice. 
. I do not object to all measures to arrest attention, to move mo- 
derately the imagination and passions, and to put the whole man 
into action towards God and his revealed truths. I am no advo- 
cate for addressing men as intellectual statues. But there is al- 
ways some danger in working on this part of the human constitu- 
tion by other means than truth set in its most affecting light and 
pressed home upon the conscience, and at no period of existence is 
the danger so great as at the crisis referred to. The imagination 
and passions are useful handmaids ; but when they assume domi- 
nion, they make a rehgion of bad proportions if not altogether de- 
lusive. This the history of religious enthusiasm shows on every 
page. 

All this is known to the educated in our country ; and if any of 
them have adopted measures calculated to give undue prepon- 
derance to imagination and passion, it has been, for the most 
part, to answer other purposes of religious policy. Much has been 
done of late to lead awakened sinners to commit themselves, in or- 
der to get them over that indecision and fear of man which have 
kept them back, and to render it impossible for them to return with 



APPENDIX. 161 

consistency. For this purpose they arc called upon to request pub- 
lic prayers by rising, to come out into the aisle in token of their de- 
termination to be for God, to take particular seats, called, in bad 
Enghsh, anxious seats, to come forward and kneel in order to be 
prayed for, and in very many instances, to promise to give them- 
selves to religion at once. For much the same purpose converts 
are called upon to take particular seats, and thus virtually to make 
a profession in a day, and are hurried into the church in a few 
weeks. These measures, while they are intended to commit the 
actors, are meant also to awaken the attention of others, and to 
serve as means of general impression. I would not make a man 
an offender for a word ; but when these measures are reduced to a 
system and constantly repeated, — when, instead of the former dig- 
nity of a Christian assembly, it is daily thrown into a rambling state 
by these well meant maneuvers, — it becomes a solemn question 
whether they do not give a disproportionate action to imagination 
and passion, and lead to a reliance on other means than truth and 
prayer, and on other power than that of God. I have seen enough to 
convince me that sinners are very apt to place a self righteous de- 
pendance on this act of commitment. *' I have taken one step, and 
now I hope God will do something for me," is language which I 
have heard more than once. Against a.nj promises, express or im- 
pUed, I utterly protest. If they are promises to do any thing short 
of real submission, they will bring up a feeling that more the sin- 
ner is not bound to do : if they are promises to submit, they arc 
made in the sinner's own strength and are presumptuous. The 
will, which forms resolutions and utters promises, cannot control 
the heart. Sinners are bound to love God at once, but they are not 
bound to promise beforehand to do it and rely on their own will to 
change their heart. This is self-dependance. They are bound to 
go forth to their work at once, but they are not bound to go alone : 
it is their privilege and duty to cast themselves instantly on the 
Holy Ghost and not to take a single step in their own strength. 
In these extorted promises there is another evil, — the substitution 
of human authority for the divine. It is right for Christians to 
urge upon sinners the obligation of immediate submission, and they 
cannot enforce this too much by the authority of God ; but to stand 



162 APPENDIX. 

over them and say, " Come, now promise ; promise this moment ; 
do promise ; you must promise ; promise and I will pray for you, 
— if you dont I wont ;" is overpowering them with human autho- 
rity and putting it in the room of the divine. 

Sometimes these new measures are plainly intended to work on 
the imagination and passions. When, in addition to all the rest, a 
whole assembly are called upon to kneel, what is this but a mea- 
sure intended merely for effect 1 No new truth is thereby convey- 
ed to the mind. Truth has to do with reason and conscience, but 
these tactics with imagination and passion first, and afterwards with 
a stupid reliance on forms, as the whole history of the Church at- 
tests. Is there no danger that we may again " be corrupted from 
the simplicity that is in Christ" ? The frequent repetition of these 
imposing ceremonies will destroy their effect, and leave us with 
forms instead of feelings. It was in this way that the primitive 
Church sunk into all the dead formalities of the church of Rome. 
The ceremonies were first adopted because they were thought to 
be impressive. In time they ceased to impress, and then the mag- 
nificent and garnished body of worship was accepted for the soul. 
This is the certain course of fallen nature. It is dangerous to work in 
human inventions upon the forms of our worship. He who made 
and united the body and soul, best knows what forms are adapted 
to our nature. The more simple they are the less they draw the 
mind off from God and truth. 

God forbid that I should speak against protracted meetings, but 
I will speak against their abuse. In this imperfect world it is al- 
most impossible that such a stimulating institution should not be 
abused. It is so much easier to enter into the excitements of a 
protracted meeting than to " tug at the oar of prayer" in secret^ 
or even to exercise a holy heart ; it is so much easier to move the 
people by these impassioned forms than to bring down the Holy 
Ghost by the struggles of faith ; that there is the utmost danger 
that these meetings will be put in the room of secret prajer and 
of the Holy Ghost and even of personal religion. When I see 
them relied on to produce revivals without previous prayer, and 
a boast made that Christians were stupid when they began; 
whjen I see a revival of ten days produce its hundred converts, and 
the people, who were stupid before, relapse into the same stupidi- 



APPENDIX. 163 

ty at the end of the protracted meeting ; I cannot but say, How dif- 
ferent are these from the revivals of the last forty years, which 
were preceded by long agonies of desire and prayer, and which 
transmitted their spirit to many succeeding months. 

There is another difference, I fear, in many cases. In those re- 
vivals unwearied pains were taken to lay open the divine character 
in all its benevolence, holiness, and justice ; to present the divine 
government in all its righteousness and purity, in all its sovereignty 
and covenant faithfulness, in all its reasonableness and benignity 
and awful terrour ; to lay open the carnal heart, festering with 
every evil passion, and the horrid nature of sin, with its infinite de- 
merits ; to explain the great provision of the atonement and the 
terms of acceptance with God ; to bring out the mercy which melts 
in the Gospel and to press home the invitation ; to show the rea- 
sonableness and sincerity of God in all his treatment of sinners, and 
the unreasonableness of their obstinacy in rejecting the Gospel. 
All these and many other topics furnished matter always new and 
always affecting to the conscience. It was all regarded as an ex- 
hibition of Godi in his character, government, and relations to men ; 
and if we could make a clear manifestation of God, we felt a con- 
fidence in leaving the issue in the hands of that Spirit whose oflSce 
work it is to take of the things of God and show them to men. 
But now I fear that in many instances there is so much reliance on 
these newly invented means of impression, that the truths of God 
are but very imperfectly brought out or even studied ; dependance 
being placed on a few topics of exhortation, without the reasons 
which the truths of the universe furnish. The consequence must 
be that the people will be left in ignorance, with a high susceptibi- 
lity of irregular excitement, and exactly fitted, should more sober 
habits return, to fill the ranks of the most extravagant sectaries, — 
the same that happened in New England some eighty years ago. 

I have no fellowship with harsh or violent measures ; such as 
abruptly telling a professor that she has no religion and is going di- 
rectly to hell, (^merely because she is cold ;) and when she is hor- 
rour struck and begs you to pray for her, tearing yourself away 
and saying, I wont pray for you, and brealdng out of the room, leav- 
ing her in agonies on the floor ; all to shake her off from depend- 
ance on you, but really endangering her reason and life. 



164 APPENDIX. 

Nor have I any more complacency in public personalities ; such 
as calling people by name in prayer or preaching ; holding up cer- 
tain neighbourhoods as subjects of public prayer on account of their 
special wickedness or neglects ; and worse than all, deliberately 
labouring to make sinners angry, in order to show them how they 
hate God and his people and his truth ; thus doing evil that good 
may come. 

" Let your women keep silence in the churches," says Paul ; 
*' for it is not permitted unto them to speak. — ^nd if they will 
learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home ; for it is a 
shame for women to speak in the church."* They may not even 
make public inquiries after truth. " Let the women learn in si- 
Jence with all subjection ; but I suffer not a woman to teach nor 
to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. "| The con- 
texts will show that the church referred to was not a judicatory, 
but a common Christian assembly for instruction and worship ; and 
the reasons assigned for the prohibition apply as much to public 
prayers as to public teaching, and certainly as much as to public in- 
quiries after truth. And prayers are public in any assembly of men 
and women collected for devotion. It is not necessary, to make it 
public, that the assembly should be in the sanctuary or on the sab- 
bath. The primitive Christians had no sanctuary, and often held 
those assemblies of which Paul speaks on other days of the week. 
Wherever the sexes are mixed up in an assembly for social prayer, 
there the prohibition applies. Nor is this against our mothers and 
wives and sisters and daughters. They will gain more respect and 
influence by keeping in the place which nature and nature's God 
assigned them, than by breaking forth as Amazons into the depart- 
ment of men. 

From these excesses two special evils are sure to follow ; one 
among the ignorant, the other among the learned and refined. That 
among the ignorant is gross, "palpable disorder. It is impossible 
that the local scenes of the last six years should have been enacted, 
and that the events of the last year should have given currency so 
wide to some of them, without producing among the ignorant out- 
breaking disorder somewhere. These fruits, I hope, have not 
yet extensively appeared ; but a late scene which has been descri- 

* I Cor. H. 34, 35. f I Tim. 2. 11, 12. 



APPENDIX. 105 

bed to me as ** a perfect revel of fanaticism," may serve as an ex- 
ample. Among other excesses, when the awakened were called 
out into the aisle, some women found themselves converted, and in 
the midst of a crowded assembly, and with a loud voice, began to 
pray for their husbands. And this was taken, by men hitherto 
deemed sober, — perhaps too sober, — as proof of the extraordinary 
descent of the Holy Spirit. Such disorders, and worse than these, 
will infallibly spread themselves all abroad, if ministers and distin- 
guished members of the Church do not combine in earnest to check 
present measures. Human nature must cease to be human nature 
if this is not the result. The other evil referred to is, that these ex- 
cesses, (I speak not of the disorders,) prejudice men of learning 
and taste against revivals, and arm the influence of society against 
them. And thus while they throw discredit on the most precious 
of God's works and obscure his glory where it was chiefly to 
be shown, they lay stumbling blocks before the blind over which 
millions will fall into hell. Let the attention of the world be 
aroused by every hallowed means ; let the imagination and pas- 
sions be wrought upon as far as the most sweet and solemn and 
awful truths of God can move them ; let every knee be pressed to 
the earth in prayer, and every authorized tongue be strained with 
entreaties to dying men ; let the whole operation be as impressive, 
as irresistible, as love and truth and eloquence can make it : but O, 
for the honour of Christ and his Spirit, and in pity to the cultivated 
millions of our race, let revivals be conducted with order and taste, 
and shun every thing by which our brethren may be offended or 
made to fall. 

I am, Dear Sir, 
With every sentiment of affection, 

Your friend and brother. 

E. D. GRIFFIN. > 
Rev. W. B. Sprague, D. D. 



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